Heylo dudes! Thanks for your reviews I'm so chuffed! Lol. Sorry the replies are kinda short, I'm not in a very cheery mood today.
Cherry7up- (I drank some of that today! Hah) Thanks for the review!
Rebanana- I wish we had camp over here! Lol. And yes, I have read Harry Potter! opens eyes in shock I hate snape! Cries. But I'm still convinced he's good… Thanks for the review!
Ravena Storm- Thanks! I feel so flattered! I'm glad you like it D
Fanmania- You'll se how it will help Paige soon Thanks for the review
Money makes me smile- Haha! Your reviews always rock! Maybe it was Greenlighter, maybe it wasn't :p And I'm sorry to say Hayden Smith will be back… Rambling rules! Lol!
BlueOrbs998- if there were an award for best review ever given, that review would win! I am SO happy D But don't count your chickens before they're hatched…this chapter is pretty bad! Lol. I too worship P/K, but I don't think Kyle would fit into this at all. If he doesn't come backinto Charmed next season for at least 1 episode, my flying monkey will be paying Brad Kern a visit! And you will see more of Hayden. Thanks fore he awesomely awesome rocking review!
Powerof4- don't worry, all will be explained! & Yes I read Harry Potter six in fourteen hours flat (or something! Lol) Duhuhude! And I really liked Tara! I cry every time I watch the ep where she dies! Lol.
Charmed1s-Halliwell- Thanks for the review! You think it was really Mark? We'll see…
.elementbabe.- Thanks for the review!
RJF- thanks for the review (for this and chapters 1-6 D I'm now glad we don't have proper school uniforms! Lol! I'm glad you liked it!
Prince Halliwell- Thanks for the review! Hayden Smith will be here again unfortunately…
LeoPiperforever- Thanks for the review! I want a batman T-shirt too! Lol.
This chapter didn't turn out as well as I thought it would, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! And for the purposes of the plot, Prue died in late January.
This is for Liam
Chapter29- Let's do the Time Warp…again
The stranger shook his head, apparently in amusement, causing his hair to fall away from his face. In doing this he revealed the most beautiful pair of sharp green eyes Piper had ever seen. But she had seen them before. She saw them every day. However, she refused to believe this was him. She jerked backwards causing the young man to roll his eyes and Piper's jaw nearly hit the floor. He had perfected Paige's eye roll down to an art. This was him.
"Andy?" She gasped.
"Well, yeh Mom!" He smiled; Piper didn't take her eyes off him. "Who were you expecting? The Spanish Inquisition?"
Piper tried to make her dazed and astounded grin look somewhat amused. Apparently Andy also had the Halliwell sarcasm. He was still smirking at her and holding out his hand in an offer to help her to her feet. 'God, he looks like Leo,' Piper thought in awe. Her son was definitely a very handsome, albeit geeky, young man. He had shaggy, mouse-brown hair which fell to just below his ears. His bangs nearly covered his eyes but there was enough of the shocking green showing to make Piper mesmerised. The mole on his left cheek defined his cheekbones and his slightly off centre nose gave Piper the impression that Andy had been in one too many demon battles. He was dressed in a pair of old jeans which were full of holes, but Piper suspected they were supposed to be like that. His dark green T-shirt bore the words "I'm not weird, I'm gifted", which Piper thought was an understatement for any member of the Halliwell family. But it was his smile that really caught Piper's attention. It was exactly like Leo's. Just looking at the man her little boy was going to become made Piper feel slightly overwhelmed. Her little Andy- Her little Prince- was one day going to become this young man in front of her. It was an almost scary thought.
When Andy's brow knitted, Piper wondered why he suddenly looked worried. But then it dawned on her that he was probably not used to his mother staring at him as if it were the first time she had ever laid eyes on him. Almost unable to take her eyes away from her son, she knew that she couldn't let him know she was not from his time, so she averted her gaze.
The attic looked remarkably different. The thick wooden floor panels had been covered by an array of mismatching rugs- one which particularly caught Piper's notice was a tremendously gruesome orange and yellow shag carpet, with frayed edges and a large, crimson potion stain in the centre. Why her future self would ever keep something like that in the house she did not know. Replacing the variety of dolls and toys Piper had grown so accustomed to in her own home were items she could never imagine keeping: footballs, bikes and racks of clothes stood at the side of the room, surprisingly, in an orderly way. The living room suite, as she had thought, was now in the attic, replacing the aged love seat, which Piper had been used to seeing in her attic since she had become a witch. Many more potion stains and scorch marks adorned the attic walls and its antique furniture, but it was surprisingly tidy. There was no cat litter tray, no cluttering items, no Book of Shadows…
Even in the rather unlikely situation she was in, Piper went into panic mode. No book? That meant evil had gotten it, or that it had been destroyed or worse…
"Andy where's the book!" She yelped. If she could find out when and how it had been taken she would be able to prevent it when she got home…if she got home.
Much to her confusion, Andy just let out a hearty laugh. "Geez mom. Paranoid much?" He rolled his eyes again and continued. "You know what Amy's like. She's studying the book before her lesson with Aunt Paige." He helped her to her feet and Piper was surprised to find her right knee full of what she assumed was arthritis. This situation was almost too weird to handle- even for a Halliwell. But what Andy had just said was sticking in her mind. Lessons with Paige? The purpose of her being here suddenly came back to her: Paige. Clearly she had been transported to the future to see how Paige would turn out, but there was so much Piper wanted to know. She knew that she should try to find out as little as possible about her future but it was all so tempting…
"Are you okay mom?" Andy asked, his smiling face turning concerned.
"Yes." Piper answered a little too quickly, "Why?"
"You just seem a little…different."
"Nope, I'm fine." She tried to assure him, wracking her mind for something to say that would sound normal, "Uh…where's Prue?" She bit down on her lip hoping that she had sounded convincing.
"At work Mom. Like she usually is…"
"Aw…crap," She muttered under her breath. Piper winced. How could she have been so stupid? Andy was at least nineteen, making Prue at least twenty-one! Why would she be in the house? She resisted her urge to groan and turned to face Andrew again. Even if she did admit it herself, she had always been a reasonably good liar, and she knew she needed to maintain eye contact. "Oh yeah…"
"Are you sure you're okay? You're a bit…forgetful…"
"Honestly honey, I'm fine. Amy's downstairs?" She dashed towards the attic door, not wanting to keep the conversation going.
"Like I said, she's studying before her lesson with Aunt Paige tomorrow." A smirk returned to his face and Piper let out a quiet sigh of relief. "When isn't she studying or with Kevin?" Then he chuckled, so Piper chuckled too, pretending to understand the joke Andrew had just made. That was until it dawned on her what Andy had said.
"Kevin Morris?" She blurted before she could stop herself. Her jaw almost hit the floor and her eyes almost bulged out of her head. Kevin Morris?
Andy hesitated before answering; Piper mentally kicked herself. "Mom, Amy and Kevin have been together for more than a year now- ever since Amy's fifteenth birthday party- and you don't remember? You're definitely not okay. I'm calling Aunt Paige."
As he orbed out Piper slapped her forehead. "Fu-! Fudge" She caught herself off guard with the swearing, but threw her hand to the side in sheer annoyance with her own ignorance. She knew she had been naive to start asking questions in the first place, but she couldn't help but feel a thirst for knowledge. Andy had just sounded so much like his Aunt Prue that it was almost as if. Perhaps their connection was bigger than just through their powers? And Amy was with Kevin Morris? She could barely imagine Amy walking, let alone with a long-term boyfriend!
Piper shook her head in disbelief. She was actually in her own future. But should she tell them she was from the past? Undoubtedly, it would make the situation easier, but it would lead to too many awkward questions. How would she be able to explain to the future Paige that she had travelled to the future because she doubted her sister's ability to recover from Mark's death?
Throwing her hands forward in frustration she let out an angry groan, but quickly regretted the hand gesture she had just made. A surge of extreme power emitted from her outstretched palms and before Piper could register what was happening, a cloud of thick smoke was travelling towards her from the attic, which she had been facing, and she was thrown backwards into the wall at the top of the attic staircase.
"Aw crap!" She cursed again; rubbing her head as she peered into the room her, apparently very advanced, power had almost destroyed. The far wall, which had been lined in shelves of potion vials and cauldrons, was now a vast display of colourful messes where the potions had smashed and the cauldrons and shelves had been reduced to shards.
"Piper?" A voice came from the bottom of the stairs and, once again, panic flooded the oldest Charmed One. How the heck was she going to explain what had happened? She turned her head to the source of the voice and squinted through the smoke and dust the explosion has just caused. "Are you okay?"
Footsteps began to move towards Piper and the eldest Charmed One's jaw hit the ground. A slender figure appeared by her side, her thick, dark curls, full of volume and bounce, falling over her face as she crouched next to the dazed Charmed One.
"Paige?" Piper gasped. Her sister looked so youthful. Her brow was wrinkled in worry, but other than that she looked not a day older than twenty. Her cheekbones were defined by the way her curls lined her face and her lips, full and red, were pulled into a tight, amused, yet worried smirk. Her blue eyes were peering over the top of her thick, red framed glasses, looking Piper up and down…wait, blue? Crap!
"Did you just call me Paige? Aunt Piper…what happened?"
"Crap!" Piper said. There seemed to be a lot of that word floating around… She knew Laura resembled her mother, but her likeness was uncanny! Looking closer, Laura's cheekbones were more distinct and her face held the same shape as Phoebe's, but family resemblance was an understatement.
"Crap what?" Laura cocked an eyebrow and pursed her lips in an amused curiosity. "…Andy said you were acting weird."
"I'm fine!" Piper eventually managed to reply.
"Yeah…" Laura took Piper's hand and helped her to her feet, "But what happened to the attic? Did a demon attack?"
Standing, Piper managed to get a closer look at her future niece. She stood at an impressive five foot nine, one of the only things that made her different from Paige. Apparently Laura's love of weird and wonderful clothes and colour combinations had not faded. Hugging her slender hourglass figure was a tight yellow blouse, fastened with metal hooks instead of buttons. Rimming the ends of the long, bell-sleeves was a red and white ribbon, sewn so that it created a ruffled effect. The same ribbon was sewn onto the brim of the large collar, which formed a V-neck, revealing enough cleavage to not look sluttish, but sexy and sophisticated. On her bottom half Laura wore dark denim jeans which hugged her thighs, but flared out from the knee downwards in a nineteen seventies style. Her feet, only just visible under the flare of her jeans, were dressed in a pair of jade green trainers, of a brand that Piper did not recognise. In her hand, which had nails painted a deep red, resided a rather large camera, but Piper did not have time to wonder why her niece was carrying one.
"Hello in there?" Laura said, waving her free hand in her Aunt's face. "Geez Piper, senile dementia hit early?"
"Wha-? Huh? Oh…"
"Maybe you should take a seat downstairs… It's inset day at school today. I'm sure War won't mind coming to tidy this up for you…"
Before Piper could even begin to attempt an explanation-not that she actually had one- Laura had grabbed her arm and was orbing her downstairs. The living room had changed more than the attic. She took a seat in the large, red, suede sofa- not wanting to arouse suspicions further by refusing to do what Laura told her- and sank into its almost heavenly soft cushions. The red of the suite matched the curtains, and complimented the creamy gold of the carpet nicely. Apparently she had finally given in to letting Leo decorate the house.
"I'll go get Warren." Laura told her. Even when concerned, the way Laura moved and spoke was eccentric and extroverted. Piper could still see her outgoing five-year-old niece shining through in this twenty-something year old woman. "Mom and Andy should be here any minute."
And then Piper was alone in the living room. She fixed her eyes on a small spider, which was struggling to make his way up the chimney, hoping to distract herself from looking at the pictures and items in the room. Despite her curiosity, she knew that finding out about the future could jeopardize it, but what she was about to find out was going to make her want to change the future in more ways than she had ever imagined.
"Mom," Andy was back. Piper grudgingly turned to face him, knowing her youngest sister would be there and she would very probably have to explain where she was from and what she was doing in the future.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out when her eyes met her youngest sister. Paige, next to Andy, looked not a day older than she did in 2008. Her hair was still thick, brown and glossy, her skin still porcelain with no blemishes, and her brown eyes still remained filled with the same deep thought. She dressed similarly to her past self, in tight, cropped, light denim jeans and an emerald green, bow sleeved top, with a neatly cut V-neck. But it was not how young her sister looked that Piper was horrified by. It was the red and black wheelchair which Paige resided in.
xxxxx
Before Cole could say another word, Phoebe was running at top speed down the attic stairs. She passed the portraits of Grams, of Charlotte Warren and of Brianna Wentworth…the one Phoebe knew she had in her own house. The one which was also hanging where the photo of Prue's first ballet recital now hung. When she reached the corridor she headed straight towards Andy's bedroom in a mad panic, hoping that her worries were not necessary. But they were. What should have been Andy's room was most definitely not the room of a three-year-old boy. No. It was the room of none other than Phoebe herself… seven years ago at least.
"Damn it!" Phoebe cursed, "I hate time travelling!"
She slammed the door to her past bedroom and brought the palms of her hands to her temples in a panic. She began to move her hands in small, massaging circles, as if expecting it to sooth her mind in some way. The calendar, which hung on the wall beside her head, showed 'March 2001'. Why the heck had the spell transported her to the past, and where on earth was Piper?
"Phoebe?" The voice of Cole boomed from the corridor. She could hear his footsteps moving towards the bedroom and was beginning to get a little worried.
"Yeah Sweetie?" Phoebe heard her own voice echo up the stairs.
"Shit." She gasped. If her past self was in the house that meant getting out of the manor was going to be even trickier. She pulled her cream, woollen hat over her eyes and continued dragging her hands down her face and pulling her cheeks downwards in deliberation. She took a deep intake of breath and let it out quickly, blowing the flowing sleeves of her beige top away from her face. What had she gotten herself into?
Her thoughts of how to get out of the manor and find Piper were broken suddenly by voices coming from the hallway: voices which belonged to Cole and herself. Thinking on her feet, which she had become quite good at since discovering she was a witch, she closed her eyes tightly and focused all of her thought onto the attic. Moments later, in a scarlet flare, she found her astral self in her desired destination and, without hesitation, began to wreak havoc. She picked up a cauldron full of herbs and threw it against the nearest wall, following this by smashing one of the vast amounts of lamps that lined the attic. Hurried footsteps on the staircase showed her that her plan had worked and, within the blink of an eye, she was back in her old bedroom.
Using her empathy-, which she knew would work because the Phoebe of this time did not have empathy so nobody would have taken blocking potions-, she made sure that the hallway was free of life. Sure enough, the Phoebe and Cole of 2001 had both rushed to the attic, leaving Phoebe's escape route free.
She darted along the corridor and down the stairs as quickly and quietly as she could manage in stiletto heals. She hadn't remembered the Manor's staircase being quite so creaky. When she eventually reached the foyer, she let out a sigh of relief. Having come face to face with herself would have been an interesting experience, to say the least, but not one Phoebe wished to endure. Now her only problem was finding Piper. If she had been transported to where her past self was, then perhaps Piper had been transported to P3, with past Piper…if Piper was in the past at all.
xxxxx
Phoebe entered P3 in a fluster. She had to find Piper. Hurrying down the stairs, her eyes scanned the large club- she didn't even stop to notice how much it had changed in the present- but found no trace of her older sister. All she had was the hope that Piper had been transported somewhere else in the past, but now it was not looking likely.
"Piper?" Her voice echoed through the empty club. She had forgotten quite how good the acoustics were when it was empty.
"She's gone for lunch Phoebe!" Came a voice from the back room. Phoebe stopped in her tracks. She hadn't heard that voice for almost a year and hearing it in such normality was slightly, and upsettingly, unusual. The hoarse tone, from years of smoking, accompanied by the accent she had always found quite attractive, still gave her a sense of warmth.
"Mark?" She spoke softly, but loud enough for her voice to carry through the club.
"No, the Bogey Man!" Phoebe snorted a laugh. She had to admit his passing had affected her in more ways than she had thought. Hearing him make jokes, unaware of the fate that would meet him, made Phoebe's eyes moisten. Even though they hadn't always seen eye-to-eye, he was one of her best friends. "Piper's gone to get lunch! She should be back soon!"
Phoebe groaned, but a little relief came out in her moan. Thank god Mark was not leaving the back room. If she saw him she didn't know how she would react. But Piper wasn't here? It was becoming more likely that Piper had not been transported here at all. "I'll catch her later then!" Phoebe replied eventually. She turned to the stairs, not wanting to encounter Mark face to face. She knew from experience that she was a terrible liar and the risk of having to talk to him was too great.
Having not even of reached the third step, Phoebe found her exit blocked. A breeze swept her brown curls backwards as someone opened the heavy door to P3 and her large brown eyes squinted through blinding sunlight which now shone in from outside. "Piper," She whispered quietly, hoping she had finally found her sister. The voice, which called out from the top of the stairs indicated that she had indeed found her sister, but not the right one.
"Hello?" The voice of Paige Matthews rang out through the club. She sounded different- younger- more innocent perhaps.
Phoebe, in a sudden panic, jumped down the two steps she had climbed and scurried into the nearby storeroom so not to be seen. From what she had gathered at the manor, she had been transported to early 2001, which meant they had only just learnt of Paige.
"Hello?" Paige's voice came again. She sounded almost timid- very unlike the Paige Phoebe knew in 2008.
She heard Paige saunter down the stairs, and with every step her sister took, Phoebe felt an unexplained and sudden rush of apprehension. Phoebe looked up in contemplation, unable to explain why she unexpectedly felt scared, cautious and timid. But looking out into the club, seeing Paige nervously shuffle towards the bar, it hit her. In 2001 Phoebe had not been an empath so there had been no need for her family to drink empathy blocking potions. Phoebe was feeling her past sister's emotions! And of course Paige would be feeling nervous! She was walking into the empty nightclub of a sister she did not know!
"Piper?" Paige called again. Phoebe began to wonder if what she was about to witness was vital to her being in this time. After all, the spell had been specifically worded to allow them to help their youngest sister and to understand her pain…
She watched Paige take a seat at the bar and place her head in her hands impatiently. She had forgotten that, at one time, Paige had been so naïve and youthful. Watching Paige glance nervously around the club, Phoebe couldn't help but smile. Her sister was so full of joy; so carefree- a drastic contrast with the Paige of the present. Even the way she held herself was different. Of course, this could have been due to the fact Paige had given birth to three children and had seriously injured her hip in her battle with Decron, never fully recovering, but the Paige she saw in the club held an elegant poise, even when she was slouching!
"Shit!" Phoebe heard her sister gasp and the middle Charmed One's heart filled with Paige's newfound panic. She felt her own breathing rate increase at the same time as she watched Paige's do the same. Phoebe wasn't certain of what, but something had scared her sister.
"Calm down Paige." The youngest sister told herself. Phoebe smirked through the panic she was feeling: Paige still spoke to herself in 2008. "It's not a demon. It's just a barman or a janitor…"
"Do you talk to yourself often?" A new voice came. As Mark spoke, Phoebe felt herself get slightly arrogant, clearly picking up on the Nauctater's personality. But she blushed at the same time, her cheeks turning the same crimson as her sister's. And then her knees went weak. Apparently Paige had a soft spot for Scottish accents.
The realisation which hit Phoebe at that precise moment made the entire situation make sense. She was witnessing Paige and Mark's first meeting! Of course, "witnessing" wasn't really the word. All Phoebe could see was a side on view of her younger sister, and her inquisitive nature was beginning to urge her to get a closer look of the moment which would be the first day of the rest of Paige's life.
"Crap…a spell!" Phoebe murmured to herself, "Uh…Not part of my body, but a projection of soul. I need not be seen to reach my goal. Exposed I do not want to be, so turn me into nobody."
The spell escaped her lips and she felt herself immediately being tugged from her body. She found herself sitting on a barstool, just two seats down from Paige. In alarm, she looked to her hand…or where her hand was supposed to be… the spell had worked! Phoebe's astral projection was invisible.
"It's a hard habit to grow out of." Paige replied bashfully. Phoebe found herself flushing. She watched her little sister peer over the bar and gaze in anticipation at the muscular form of a crouched Mark, dressed in a tight white T-shirt which showed his physique perfectly, his back facing the sisters as he placed glasses into the cabinet. The middle Charmed One's sudden shock at seeing the man who had moved on almost a year ago was overlaid with a longing for the nauctater to turn round. His curls fell onto his face, meaning neither of the sisters could even catch a glimpse of his face. Phoebe had never felt so hopeful that a person would turn to face her in her life. Apparently Paige really wanted a glance at the man who's voice had melted her heart.
"I wouldn't know," Mark replied. As Phoebe watched Paige take a sharp intake of breath, she shared her sister's urge to jump off her stool and squeal like a little girl. "I am flawless after all."
"I'll bet…" Paige smiled slyly and Phoebe's yearning for Mark to turn round reached a peak. Jeez, Paige was persistent with her feelings.
Phoebe rolled her eyes at Mark's arrogant facade and, in the brief moment where she was feeling neither of the lovers' emotions. a melancholy vibe washed over her. Mark was only five feet away from her, stacking shelves and flirting his heart out with who was to become his future wife. Here in the past, she had the ability to prevent what was to happen to her bother-in-law but she knew she couldn't. Resisting the temptation, however, was a lot easier said than done…
She was almost thankful when the two began talking again so that thoughts of her ability to change the past were overcome. Her heart began to pump vigorously in her chest and her palms began to moisten as an excited sweat formed in them. She looked up too see that Mark was now standing, facing Paige. That explained the sudden exhilaration she was feeling. Mark placed his elbows on the bar and leaned closer to Paige. Suddenly, and rather disturbingly, Phoebe was mesmerised by her sister's incredible beauty. From the way her dark locks swept her face, to the way her nose wrinkled when she smiled, she was gorgeous. And then their was her slender and stunning body…
Oh God! Phoebe thought, tightly closing her eyes Eew Eew Eew! Please go back to channelling Paige…
As if by magic, she was back inside her sister's head. She slowly opened her eyes, fixing them firmly on Paige and Mark's faces. But before she knew it she found herself enthralled by Mark. The way his shaggy curls fell around his face, only just covering his stick-out ears, accompanied with his thin layer of stubble, gave him a rugged handsomeness, which Phoebe was finding irresistible. She knew she had always found Mark attractive, but never so much as she was picking up from her little sister. He smiled, baring all of his slightly askew teeth in a crooked smile and Phoebe felt her heart flutter in ecstasy. Her knees turned to jelly and she had never been more grateful for P3's horribly uncomfortable bar stools. His eyes were his most incredible feature though. His pupils were almost lost in the deep midnight blue of his irises, but the lines of aquamarine defined them. You could get lost in those eyes forever…
"I'm Mark." The nauctater introduced himself, Phoebe gasped in delight, luckily at the same time as Paige or she would have been heard.
"Paige," Her one word reply was enough to make Mark's pulse race. Phoebe hadn't realised her was biting her nails in anticipation.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Mark reached forward and gently took Paige's hand before planting a soft kiss on the top of it. Phoebe's stomach swelled in pleasure and she found her cheeks burning. She knew her expression would be similar to Paige's giddy and over excitable one, but she felt that even if she hadn't been picking up empathic waves from them both she would have had a grin stretching from ear to ear. She knew that she was witnessing something that you only ever saw in movies or read in books (AN- or fanfiction :p). She was witnessing 'love at first sight'.
At the sound of Paige's flirtatious giggle, Phoebe picked up on Mark's sudden urge to leap over the bar and kiss her with every ounce of passion in his body. And then she was overcome by the desperate need to think of something romantic to say. Mark's panic almost made Phoebe snort a laugh, but she held it back.
"Are you Scottish?" Paige asked bashfully.
"Yes!" Mark beamed in pride, "Have you ever been?"
"No," She replied. Phoebe smirked, not yet anyway! She thought, knowing how much time her sister would spend there in the future. "I hear it's beautiful though?"
"I would agree," Mark began, Phoebe felt her confidence rise, "But after laying eyes on someone as incredibly beautiful as you nothing compares," Phoebe would have gagged at how cheesy Mark sounded, but the thing was she could feel how genuine he was being.
Before she could even begin to feel her sister's extreme joy and embarrassment, she found herself being tugged back into her own body. "Damn!" She gasped, "That was just getting fun!" But as she looked from the storeroom and saw Paige and Mark looking longingly into each other's eyes as they continued to make small talk, a great lump of guilt settled in her throat. She had just watched the first meeting of Paige and Mark, knowing what fate was to meet them and she hadn't even attempted to warn them. She found tears welling in her eyes as she thought of what a great love Paige had lost. In losing Mark she had lost her soulmate- the love of her life. The pain she must have been going through would have been immense…
Perhaps this was why she had been transported into the past? To learn what a great love Paige had lost? To understand the pain her sister back in 2008 was is? It was all clear now…
Phoebe wiped the trickles of salty tears from her cheeks and averted her gaze from the Paige and Mark of 2001. She leaned back against the wall in exasperation and her mind, once again, filled with thoughts of how to return home. Not that she knew what Paige was feeling all she wanted to do was get home and give her sister a hug.
Her chain of thought was brought to an abrupt end as she felt a strange tugging sensation in her stomach, almost like the one she got from orbing, but magnified. She closed her eyes tightly, hoping to make the slightly nauseating feeling disappear. Amazingly, it worked. But when she opened them, she was no longer in the storeroom of P3, but in a church?
xxxxx
Piper struggled to keep her jaw from dropping. She couldn't believe Paige was in a wheelchair. After everything her baby sister had been through, she was now grounded by a disability too!
"Sheesh Piper!" Her sister spoke, in the same harsh tone she used when she was angry back in 2008. Her normality, despite her situation, was amazing. "I've had this chair long enough for me to expect you won't gawp at me like that!" The youngest charmed one sounded both hurt and annoyed.
Piper looked to the ground, guilt radiating from her. She bit her bottom lip and attempted o run her fingers through her hair, forgetting that her future self was wearing her hair in a ponytail. She found herself unable to speak- even unable to utter a small apology. She couldn't describe what she was suddenly feeling. Sympathy, shock, fury…
Furious. Yes, that's how she was feeling. Furious with herself. How could she have ever let that happen to her baby sister? Paige had been through too much in her life to deserve anything as dreadful as this! She had been given up at birth and raised by wonderful parents, who had then left her at the age of seventeen to fend for herself! Then she had struggled through alcoholism in her late teens, before pulling herself together and getting a stable job, which she then had to leave after discovering she had a magical destiny with sisters she didn't even know! Then, of course, she had found her true love, but throughout her years with Mark they had been under the threat of constant attacks from a demon Piper dared even think of, at the risk of losing their children and each other every day, until they had eventually lost each other. And now- now Piper had come to the future expecting to find out that everything would be okay, only to discover her sister in a wheelchair!
"Piper, what the hell is wrong with you?" Paige asked, but the edge in her voice softened and was replaced with an immense concern.
Piper quickly wiped the tears which had not yet fallen from her eyes and returned her gaze to the small spider, which was still struggling up the chimney. "Nothing." She replied. Even if she had wanted to tell Paige that she was from the past, she wouldn't have managed to utter more than one word. Her blood was boiling, and her hands were trembling. What had Paige done to deserve this?
"Come on Piper," Paige wheeled herself towards the sofa and placed a hand on Piper's arm. It took all of Piper's willpower not to pull away. "I may not have known you your entire life but I've known you for long enough to tell when something's wrong!"
"I'm fine." Piper said in a hoarse whisper. She knew she couldn't keep this up much longer. She was going to crack.
"Geez Aunty P, you always told me I inherited my persistence from mom!"
That was a new voice! Piper's head jerked up before she could even stop herself and found herself gazing at a stunningly beautiful young woman. She had her long, raven hair pulled into two neat French braids, which fell so they just brushed her shoulders. A few strands of hair had been left loose and were framing her tanned face, defining her incredible cheekbones perfectly. Her slightly upturned nose was wrinkled in an amused smirk and she wore a smile so much like Cole's it was uncanny! Her slightly upturned nose was wrinkled in an amused smirk. Her huge, intensely dark eyes were gazing at Piper, but they did not match her smiling face. There was some hidden depth in those eyes which intrigued the eldest Charmed One. There was no doubt who the young woman was though. She was greeting Melinda-Jayne.
"Hey Midget," Paige greeted her. Midget? It was then that Piper realised MJ had inherited the Halliwell height. Whereas Laura had been an impressible five foot nine, MJ stood at around five foot three. Her hip-hugging, khaki combats trailed on the floor, but seemed to match her grungy look. She wore a tight, sleeveless white T-shirt with large, black lips embroidered on the front and a grey flat-cap. Piper couldn't help but smile. At least she would never feel too short.
"Hi," Piper greeted, relieved to have a distraction.
"What brings you here?" Paige asked, her voice filled with more concern than it had been when she addressed Piper.
MJ looked hesitant. Piper watched her intently. "I…" She turned to face Paige and drew a deep breath and suddenly looked in desperate need of a hug. "Jason." She said.
Piper narrowed her eyes: Jason? Why would she be here because of her stepfather?
"Sweetie, I thought you two were getting along okay now?"
Piper almost couldn't believe her ears. MJ loved Jason almost more than her own father in 2008- why would they not get on in the future? However, Piper knew her curiosity would only lead to something bad. The saying "curiosity killed the cat" seemed to echo in her mind and she rose to her feet in a sudden rush.
"I'll make tea." She said, hurrying in the direction of the kitchen.
"Don't think you've gotten away from me that easily!" Paige yelled after her. Piper slapped her thigh in frustration.
Glad to find that there was nobody in the kitchen, Piper let out a relieved sigh. Since arriving she hadn't had time to wonder where Phoebe was, but now that was the thought which was rushing through her mind. That was until a young woman. Who she had not even noticed when entering the kitchen, stepped out from behind the kitchen counter. The woman's incredibly long, flaming red hair was scraped off of her face into a tight ponytail, giving the impression that her skin was too tight. She was dressed in a long, black, matrix style leather jacket, which swept the floor as she walked towards Piper. It did not look like the Rachael Piper knew and loved, but with red hair that colour it could only be one person.
"Hi," she said, forcing a smile.
The woman's smirk turned into a scowl and she slowly moved her hand towards her pocket. Piper was too shocked to move when she removed a jewelled, gold athame from her coat.
"Aunt Piper, blow her up!" Came a voice she recognised as Laura's from behind her. Finding it difficult to register that she was supposed to be killing her niece, Piper just stood, gawping at the redhead.
"Leave her alone!" Came a deep, gruff, male voice and Piper found herself being pushed to the side. She watched in amazement as flames erupted around the leather-adorned woman, not even registering the blood churning screams the dominatrix was emitting. The amount of power, which had just been used to vanquish that demon, had been immense, but who had it been? Clearly, Piper had been right in thinking it had not looked like Rachael. I hadn't been her niece at all!
"Why didn't you blow her up?" Laura moved towards Piper, blocking the youngest Charmed One's view of the male who had destroyed the demon. "There was some sort of demon in the kitchen and you greet it with 'hi'?"
"I…uh…" Piper could hardly tell her niece she hadn't attempted to blow up the demonatrix because she thought it was Rachael. Now, she would definitely have to explain why she was here…
It was time to come clean.
AN- There you go peeps! Hope you enjoyed that, I've had a bit of writers' block so I'm not sure how it turned out. The next chapter should be up sometime, but I'm not sure when. I've got a hell of a lot of homework to do before I go back to school on the sixteenth! Lol. …no, I haven't been putting it off for the whole holidays… heh! Until next time chickens.
Laur x
Next Chapter- When Phoebe finds herself in yet another time in the past, emotions fly high. Piper comes clean and learns what she was sent to the future to learn, but not until finding out some information she was better off without… And will they ever make it home?