I've gotten a number of very good suggestions for this fic, but for the time being, I'm going to keep doing it my way, since it's already written. As I've said before, once you've read the whole thing, if anyone wants to take my ideas and write a rewrite of "Forever Charmed" of your own, go for it! Just be sure to give me credit and try to follow the restrictions I've put on myself : it has to make sense with the rest of the series;you can't include the characters whose actors refused to be part of the finale—Cole and Prue; and you must allow Kern's favorite 8th season character, Mary Sue, I mean Billie to end up being a good character! BARF, I know, but no way. a script based on your fic would've made the air without those conditions! So that's why I've put them on myself and why I think anyone else rewriting the finale should do the same.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Grams reached behind her to bring Young Piper forward, squeezing her tightly with one arm. "Yes, my darling, that's you, all right. I always knew there was some fire inside of you somewhere--you couldn't be a Halliwell without it. I told you that you were special. And now I know you're even more special than I thought you were," and this time her eyes were on the older version. Her words calmed Piper down and now she managed to smile back.

Now Young Piper clapped her hands. "Wait until I tell Prue and Phoebe!"

"Um," Grams started. "I'm afraid--"

"That's OK," Coop assured her. "Remember, I'll take care of it when I return all of you. She won't remember anything."

Grams realized that he also meant her and she looked disappointed and everyone laughed, everyone but Piper. "Where's the Angel of Destiny?" she asked. "Where's Leo? We fought the battle. I want my husband back." And looking up, she demanded, "I want Leo back, right now!"

But no Angel appeared. And although Leo did appear, it was only to Piper, much as he had before, only this time she could practically see through him, he was so transparent, the look of fear on his face clearly pleading, "Help!" before he was gone.

When she told the others, Phoebe hugged her, even when Piper tried to stop her. "Billie and Christy are still alive and still evil. Despite beating the Hollow, I don't think we've won the battle yet."

Paige nodded. "It's still just a draw."

Piper sighed. "So much for my future…"

Paige blinked back her tears. "I tried to save him for you, Piper! Really I did!" She spun to face Coop. "I don't get it. We did what our future selves told us to do. Why didn't it work?"

Coop could only shrug before adding, "At least your sisters are alive," and he turned to smile at Phoebe, who shyly ducked her head, wondering why she always felt shy around this man, something she hadn't felt around any man since Cole.

"Yeah, but we're right back where we started from," Piper grumbled. "And still no Leo. We'll just have to figure a different way to finish the Battle."

Phoebe nodded. "And with Grams and Mom here, that should be a piece of cake. I mean, if we can beat the Hollow, we can certainly beat Billie and Christy!"

"But we have to be sure that Mom gets back to the past safely," Paige reminded her. "Or you and I are toast! And if something happens to Young Piper, who knows what will happen to our Piper! That's why I wasn't nuts on this idea."

Patty nodded and Piper held her head as she felt the pressure build.

"Something else I don't understand," Patty told Piper. "Is Leo your husband?" When Piper nodded, Patty continued. "Why do you have to vanquish those two to get him back? I mean, those two are obviously evil. Don't you simply want to vanquish evil?"

"Please, Mom," Piper begged, her head pounding. "It's too complicated to get into."

Patty looked ready to protest when suddenly an orbstream appeared in the middle of the room. "Leo?" Piper whispered, a whimper in her voice.

But it wasn't Leo who appeared. It was--

"Wyatt!" cried Phoebe, as she ran to the good future version of her older nephew.

"Chris!" screamed Paige, running to hug the future version of her younger nephew..

Piper was staring at the young girl who was standing between her sons and who had been holding their hands. She looked a couple years younger than Chris and had the long chocolate-brown hair and high cheekbones of the Halliwells, but her eyes were as green as Leo's and Chris' and her face reminded Piper of Leo.

"What are you two doing here?" Piper demanded of her sons, then turned to the girl. "And who are you?"

The girl looked hurt. "Don't you recognize me, Mom? I'm Melinda."

Chris rolled his eyes. "I told you she didn't know about you yet." He turned to Piper. "We found the entry you wrote in the Book of Shadows, Mom."

"What entry?" Piper asked.

"You know," Melinda insisted. "The one about needing us to come back here in order for Wyatt and Chris to reclaim their powers and so we could help free our father from being frozen."

"WHAT?" demanded Piper. "I wrote no entry concerning you three. How could I? I didn't even know about you."

"Well, you did," Wyatt insisted. "Or maybe you will, because here we are!"