"Cross now the great divide." The sisters finished calling for their grandmother.
"Hello dears. I think I know why you called me. Where is she?"
"Downstairs." Piper answered.
"How's she doing? If there's anyone who should be able to deal with this it's you girls."
"She's okay, considering what Buffy told us about how hard it is."
"I don't know how accurate that was anyway, Tara seems pretty fine." Paige put in.
"Buffy? Tara? Who are these people?" Grams asked, looking from granddaughter to granddaughter.
Piper rolled her eyes. "Come on. We'll catch you up on the way down."
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When they arrived downstairs, Prue had moved to the kitchen, where she was curled up in a chair, nursing a cup of coffee with a vacant look in her eyes. The Scoobies were gathered in the living room, but the witches passed them by.
Prue looked up as her family entered the room. Her eyes widened when she saw her grandmother.
"Grams? Don't tell me they brought you back to life too."
Grams laughed. "Oh no, this is just temporary like we've done before." She gave her younger three granddaughters a look and they quickly slipped out of the kitchen.
"This must be quite a shock." She said quietly as she sat down across from the frail-looking Prue.
"A shock is finding out Mom had an affair and I have another sister. Coming back from being dead for three years is insane." She said bluntly.
"I know it must seem difficult now, but this is your destiny, just as dying three years ago was your destiny."
"Grams, no offense but no matter what happens that is your answer." Prue said almost acidly.
"That is true, I suppose. But it doesn't change the truth of it."
Prue sat silently for a minute.
"How am i supposed to just pick up where I left off? I mean, Willow's going to fix some of that I guess, but I don't have a job, I have nowhere to live, my sisters don't need me anymore..."
"I don't know what it is Willow is going to fix, but I'm sure you can find a job when you are ready, and your sisters will find space for you. Of course they learned how to deal without you, but that doesn't mean they don't need or want you here."
Prue put down the empty coffee cup and wrapped her arms around her legs.
"Honey, how much can you remember from being dead?"
"Not a lot, actually. And the longer I'm here the fuzzier it gets." She admitted.
"I suspected that. Is that the problem? Piper tells me there's a girl here who said coming back from the dead was like going to hell."
Prue shook her head. "No, it's not like that, for me anyway. It's just, I don't fit in anymore. I was always the big sister, I took care of them. And now look, Piper's the big sister, and a mom, and they have a new sister I don't even know."
"You feel like they've replaced you."
"No! Well, maybe. A little."
"Oh Prue." Piper walked in from where she'd shamefully been listening. "We could never replace you. We love Paige of course, but she's not you. And come on, I could never be a big sister like you can." She grinned through watery eyes.
"Paige even has my powers." She continued, barely acknowledging Piper's confession, though the sentiment did sink in.
"Well, not exactly. She has telekinesis but she does it differently. Since she's half white-lighter she orbs things around. And she doesn't have astral projection." Piper explained.
"Am I still a witch?" she asked, turning to Grams.
"I honestly have no idea."
Prue waved her hand almost aimlessly at a cup sitting on the table, and it went flying into the opposite wall, causing all three women to jump as it shattered.
Piper raised her eyebrows. "Guess so."
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Willow stretched. "Okay, that's the last of it for Prue. And that nice Inspector Morris said he shredded the hard copy of the police investigation. I made it look like she was in a coma in a hospital for three years. I figured that'd be the easiest for her so she doesn't have to explain to people where she was those years. But um, you guys might want to stay away from Mercy Hospital in Berkley just in case." She said to the Halliwells. After Grams' visit ended a few hours ago, Prue seemed happier. She had spent almost an hour testing out her powers, which would have annoyed her sisters were they not still so happy to have her back.
"A coma, okay. I can deal with that." She said.
"And mine too?" Tara asked from her position on the couch next to her girlfriend.
Willow nodded and smiled at her. "You were easier since the hard copies are gone anyway. I corrected your records at school so that you finished that semester, since I already had to go there to delete the reason for withdrawl. And I enrolled you at UCLA with me. So you can start in the fall and we'll graduate together."
Tara smiled. "What grades did you give me?" she teased.
"Oh, I looked at your midterm grades and went by that." Willow said completely seriously. "Which were of course good."
Piper raised her eyebrows, Buffy shook her head, and Tara just grinned. Sure her girlfriend was a bit strange, but she wouldn't have it any other way.
"What? I was trying to be realistic." The witch protested.
"Honey, you were hacking in to change the record so it looked like I hadn't died. I think realism went out the window a long time ago." Tara pointed out.
Willow was distracted from being pouty by Dawn's sudden grab at her head. Buffy caught her sister as she began shaking.
"What's wrong with her?" Piper asked, alarmed.
"Vision." Willow answered shortly.
"Wow. Glad mine aren't like that." Phoebe said, watching as the teenager stopped shaking and opened her eyes.
"What is it, what did you see?"
"Angel...poofed...LA, we have to go back now." She mumbled before passing out.
"Poofed? Like staked?" Xander asked.
"Not if I can help it. Let's go get Spike, we have to get back."
"I can orb you there." Paige offered.
"Thanks. I guess this is goodbye for now." The slayer looked at their new friends.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll be seeing each other." Piper said as the gang gathered around Paige and disappeared into a shimmer of blue lights.
That's all for now folks! I may write a sequel about the four sisters but no great ideas for that have struck me, so don't hold your breath. Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!