CHAPTER SEVEN

At first that name startled Paige, but she quickly realized that letting them think she was Prue was easier than trying to explain who she really was, so she simply nodded, giving Coop a warning look. He merely shrugged.

As they sat down, Victor requested, "Well, tell us what happened. I'm still new to this witch-stuff."

"Well, we didn't quite mean to show up here, but we're trying to save Piper and Phoebe."

"Phoebe?" asked Patty. "Who's Phoebe?"

Coop smiled. "Your and Victor's youngest daughter."

"Daughter?" Patty asked. "You mean?" and she touched her tummy, and Coop smiled and nodded and both Patty and Victor hugged in joy.

"But you said you wanted to save them," Victor said, his arm now protectively resting on Patty's tummy. "What happened?"

"They were both killed in a battle with evil," Coop quietly told them.

"And I was trying to go back in time to warn them," Paige explained. "I might have tried to do it myself, but without the Power of Three, I had to have Coop do it instead," and Coop shook his head warningly, afraid that Paige had said too much."

"Power of Three!" exclaimed Patty. "You mean you and your sisters are The Charmed Ones?"

Coop again tried to stop her, but Paige figured she might as well go for broke and nodded.

Patty smiled with pride. "The Charmed Ones! Oh, Victor! Our daughters are The Charmed Ones!"

"Sounds dangerous," worried Victor.

Patty smiled at him. "Being a witch, saving innocents, is always dangerous, Victor. But it's worth it. I warned you about that when you asked me to marry you."

"Yes, you did," he admitted. "But I never dreamed it would affect our children, put them in danger, cause their deaths!"

"Well, it has, and now we have to save them. Maybe we can recreate the Charmed Ones."

Paige began to get excited. "Do you think we could?"

"Well, we already have you, Prue, and you say I have Phoebe here," and she touched her tummy. "So all we need is Piper. I'll go get her and--"

"No!" protested Victor. "You are NOT going to take our three-year-old daughter! She's much too young for that!"

Patty sighed. "Yes, you're right," and Paige looked disappointed, much as she agreed. Then Patty brightened. "Mother! That's it! If we can find her, maybe we can recreate the Power of Three using three generations of Halliwells!"

Victor rolled his eyes. "Can't we leave HER out of it?"

"Victor!" exclaimed Patty. "You said it yourself! These are our daughters we're talking about. We must do anything we can to save them!"

Paige started getting excited, grinning at Coop. "It could just work!"

"No!" Victor still protested. "You are NOT going on no time travel journey while carrying our child!"

Coop agreed. "What if something happened to you? Phoebe would never be born."

Neither would I, Paige silently added. "We'll just go find Grams." She turned to Coop. "I love her, too," and he nodded. "She'll be able to figure out something."

"No!" Patty protested. "You have to let me come. I'll be careful, but you can't just come here and tell me that I'm going to have another daughter and then in almost the same sentence tell me that both she and Piper are going to be killed without letting me help!"