Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, Practical Magic, or Otis Redding. Nor Oldies fm. If it exists.

Chapter 1

- The Long Drive -

The night was dark and empty, the searing heat that had been a present from one of the first days of autumn having faded along with the light, leaving the air crisp and fragrant. The stars, clearly visible in the cold sky, twinkled merrily. The moon, for once, had no sign of trouble: no rings around it, no colors…

Instead, its unusual clarity seemed to accentuate the beauty of the landscape by night. The world seemed empty, save for a lone black Jeep speeding down the highway.

The car was filled to the brim with four young women and their luggage, all of their faces bearing the telltale features of Halliwell: Dark hair, finely chiseled cheekbones, willpower, and, of course, a hint of mystery. It was there in the innocent face of the youngest, as she slept with her head in her sister's lap. It was there in the eyes of the eldest, who was steering the car with every bit as much accuracy and determination as she handled every other aspect of her life. It was there in the tired visage of the second, as she slumped forward in the passenger seat after a long day of driving and navigating. And it was there in the grim set of the third sister's jaw, as she absentmindedly stroked her younger sister's long brown hair.

The atmosphere in the car was one that is only known to those that have traveled considerable distances by car. The back seat was sticky due to the can of soda Paige had knocked over earlier on. The floor was covered in sweet wrappers, lollipop sticks and empty bags. After a long day with not much more to do than eat, Piper's provisions had nearly run out. An admirable feat, considering the amount and quality of the food she prepared were huge. But that was not what Prue was thinking as she scanned the road for the sign she knew was coming. A quick glance in the rear view mirror told her her two baby sisters seemed fast asleep, as was Piper in the seat next to her. A sigh from the back seat, however, caught her attention and when she looked again, Phoebe was looking back at her, brown eyes wide open.

"Pheebs, are you okay?" Prue asked softly. "Why don't you try to get some sleep, honey?"

"I can't," Phoebe replied, "there's just… too much going on in my head right now."

"Are you thinking about Grams again?" "Among others…" Phoebe answered. "The funeral was really beautiful," Prue stated almost philosophically. "She'd have liked it. All those people there, all those innocents she'd helped during her life…" "Yeah," Phoebe said softly, "she was a great woman. But the way she… died, it just seemed, anticlimactic in a way…"

"I know what you mean," Prue whispered. "After all those demons, who'd have thought it was her heart condition that would get her in the end."

She glanced at Phoebe in the mirror again, and was surprised that her sister's big brown eyes had filled with tears. "Pheebs, what's wrong?" "I just feel it's my fault!" Phoebe replied, her voice breaking. "If I hadn't fought so much with you, if I hadn't left for New York…" "If I'd believed you about Roger, you might not have moved out. It's like that for all of us, Phoebe. If Piper had tried harder to keep us together, if Paige hadn't rebelled so much… We all feel guilty. But it's not our fault. Grams had her heart condition all her life. It was bound to catch up with her, after all the stress in her life. We can't blame ourselves. And, on the plus side, it's not like we're never going to see her again, is it?" "You're right. I'm being silly." Phoebe sniffed.

Prue reached over to the glove compartment and got out a tissue. "There you go, honey." "Thanks, Prue." Phoebe blew her nose loudly, the noise and the movement causing Paige to wake up a little. "What's going on? Are we there yet?" She asked sleepily. "No, not yet. Go back to sleep, baby." Paige nodded groggily, shifted a little to get more comfortable and closed her eyes. She was asleep again almost instantly. "You too, Pheebs," Prue whispered. "Go to sleep. I'm going to wake Piper in a few hours so she can take the last shift, and when you wake up in the morning, we'll be there!" "Phoebe nodded, her delicate features breaking into a huge yawn. Prue smiled as Phoebe nudged Paige aside so she could get into a more comfortable position.

After a few moments, the mingling of three people breathing evenly instead of just two before told Prue that Phoebe had finally gone to sleep as well. She sighed as she adjusted the car into cruise control. This was going to be a long night.

-PPPP-

"I don't understand why we couldn't just have orbed to the aunts' house!" Piper whined as she climbed back into the car, going to sit at the drivers' seat. "Oh, come on, you know why we couldn't. They have enough trouble with being witches as it is, they don't need us arriving there without a suitable explanation as to how we got there." Prue replied, getting into the car as well while nursing a cup of hot coffee she'd gotten from the cafeteria at the gas station. She handed the cup to Piper, who took a careful sip before placing it in the cup holder. "We do it all the time at home," Piper argued. "Nobody so much as blinks an eye there if we turn up without an explanation!"

"Piper, we live in San Francisco for crying out loud! We could turn up dressed as clowns carrying piñatas and nobody would notice or care, while our cousins live in New England, on a small island I might add, where town gossip is about as interesting as the Oscars are in LA. We can't just come orbing in. They'd notice, which is not what the aunts, nor us, as a matter of fact, need!" Prue finished, strapping herself in. She glanced at the back seat, where Phoebe and Paige were still fast asleep, a tangle of limbs and dark hair.

Somehow they'd ended up from Paige having her head in Phoebe's lap with Phoebe leaning against the window, to Paige folded over, head on her knees, with Phoebe sprawled out, lying on Paige's back. "Piper, take a look at this!" Prue whispered, trying to hold back her laughter. Piper turned around and grinned as she saw the impossible position her two baby sisters had managed to maneuver themselves into. Paige was going have one hell of a backache tomorrow. As she clicked her seatbelt into place, Piper grimaced. Seemed like Paige wasn't the only one with a backache. Sleeping while leaning into a seatbelt apparently wasn't good for one's spine. She took another sip of coffee and started the car while Prue made herself comfortable, knocking over several empty bottles of Gatorade.

Piper took another look at the map lying in front of her. "So, I go all the way down the 90, take exit 167, drive down to the coast and after that all that's left is the ferry?" "Yes. Wake me when we get there, 'kay?" Prue yawned. Piper nodded, and backed out of the parking space. She took another sip of coffee and drove out of the parking lot and onto the highway again. "Sleep tight, Prue." "Thanks," Prue replied, "but in this position, I highly doubt it." Piper smiled.

-PPPP-

When Paige woke up, the first things she noticed were the rising sun, the sensation of her jeans-clad knee pressing into her face and a dead weight on her back. She groaned, while sitting up and shoving Phoebe off rather roughly. Phoebe merely sighed and curled into a ball. Paige stretched, trying to get rid of the pain in her back and catching Piper's sparkling eyes in in the mirror. "Good morning, sunshine!" Piper laughed at the disgruntled look on Paige's face. Paige made a rude hand gesture. Piper's smile only got bigger, especially when she noticed the extremely detailed imprint of jeans on Paige's face. "What's so funny this early in the morning?" Paige whined.

"Take a look at your face, baby," Piper replied, tossing a small compact mirror to her sister. Paige opened it and shrieked. "This goes way beyond pillow lines! Look at my face! Oh my god!" Piper reached into the large pile of sweets, tampons, lip balm and other goodies (it was a girls' car, after all) that had assembled itself on the dashboard and pulled out a packet of wet tissues. She tossed them at Paige, who pulled one out and wiped her cheeks, pulling a face at her reflection in the mirror.

"Do you know when we're going to get there? Or, more importantly, when breakfast is? I'm starving!" Paige stated loudly. "Keep it down, will you?" Piper replied. "Prue and Phoebe haven't had as much sleep as you and me. Let's not wake them for a little while, okay?"

"'Kay." Paige whispered. "And as for breakfast," Piper smiled, "you are a very lucky witch. It's only one more hour until we get there. And you know what the aunts serve for breakfast!" "Brownies!" Paige whispered excitedly, her round brown eyes glazing over in prospect of the chocolate treat. Piper shook her head in disapproval, still smiling. "Aw, come on, sis, even a health freak like you can have a brownie for breakfast now and then! Besides, chocolate makes you happy! It's good for you!" Paige said, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"I'm still hungry though," she added, face falling. "Is there anything left in the coolbox?" "I'll check," Piper replied, taking one hand off the steering wheel to flip the lid off the box and feeling around for anything in there. She pulled out two bananas and tossed them to the back seat. Paige caught the pieces of yellow fruit and eagerly pealed off the skin of the first. Next to her, Phoebe began to stir. She sat up straight, rubbing her eyes and stretching her arms behind her back. "Morning!" Piper called from the front seat, smiling brightly. "Banana?" Paige supplied. Phoebe grinned. "No thanks."

She brushed her short brown hair from her eyes. "My hair is all sticky…" "Yeah, that'd be Paige's thing. That soda ended up all over the place." Piper replied. "Paige!" Phoebe scolded. "Sowry," Paige answered, mouth full of banana. "Wha'?" She asked off her two sisters' looks. "I'b eadin'!" "Paige, if you're gonna apologize for something, at least do it when you haven't got food in your mouth!" Phoebe said, disgruntled. Paige swallowed. "I know," she answered. "I'm sorry. If it's any consolation, my hair's sticky too." "O yeah, that makes me feel real good." Phoebe joked. Paige pouted. Piper smiled to herself at her sisters' antics.

"I'm really glad you kept your long hair, though, Paige." Piper called from the front seat. Up until recently, all four girls had had the same haircut: long with bangs in front. When Phoebe and Prue had moved out of the manor, however, they had both cut their hair really short. Piper had been heartbroken, both about the move and the cutting of hair. She and Paige were now the only ones left who still had the traditional Grams' style haircut, though Piper had recently had it trimmed, leaving Paige as the only one with hair past her shoulders.

"You know, guys, it's just 5 more minutes or so until we reach the ferry and we can wake up Prue…" "Really?" Phoebe asked. Piper nodded. "So that would make the ferry ride… about thirty minutes, and then half an hour more to get to the house?" Paige asked. Piper nodded again as she steered the car in the direction of exit 167. "Good," Paige said, taking another bite of her banana while Phoebe attempted to tame her hair.

"Piper, do you have a scrunchie or something up front? I just want to tie my hair back." She asked. "Want to look pretty for the ferry guys?" Piper teased, producing a pink hairband out of nowhere and handing it to Paige, who handed it to Phoebe. "Always," Phoebe replied. "You know me and sailors." Piper and Paige laughed while Phoebe tied her hair back. It was a little too short to completely fit into a ponytail, but it looked a lot better than the sticky mess it had been before.

"Oh look, guys, there's the sea!" Paige pointed out the window with her second banana. "And I can see the ferry!" "I thought it would be bigger…" Phoebe remarked. "Well, it doesn't need to be any bigger. It's a small island, not a lot of people need to get to it, except for the ones that live there and some tourists, I suppose." Piper said, while stopping the car behind the ones already in line to get onto the ferry. "Now, who wants to wake Prue?"

The two younger girls quickly looked away. Prue was not an easy person to wake. She tended to slap away anyone who dared intrude on her much needed rest. "Come on, guys, she wanted us to wake her!" Piper pleaded. "Correction, she asked you to wake her. We were asleep at that time!" Paige replied cheekily. Piper stuck her lower lip out, and her sisters caved. No one could resist a pouting Piper.

"I say we gang up on her!" Phoebe said suddenly. "That way, she can blame no one in particular, and we'll have eachother as backup when she goes berserk." "Don't you mean if she goes berserk?" Piper asked. Paige gave her a pointed look. "You're right. She's Prue. She'll go crazy. So here's the plan: I'll call her name, Phoebe will poke her, and Paige, keep that banana ready in case we need something to stuff her mouth with." "No, not the banana! It's mine, mine, mine!" Paige exclaimed, ready to defend her precious article of food. Her protests faded into grumbling, however, when Piper looked at her sternly reminding her of the wrath of Prue.

"So, on three?" Phoebe asked. Her sisters nodded. Paige started counting. "One, two… Three!" Piper called out Prue's name, while Phoebe poked Prue in the ribs, Paige waving her banana. To their utter surprise, however, Prue calmly sat up and inquired as to the time. "Uh… it's 7.30. Aren't you going to flip?" Paige replied anxiously. Prue started laughing. "Come on, guys, I was awake the whole time. You talk loudly. Am I really that hard to get up?" "Are you kidding me?" Phoebe answered. "You're worse than Grams was!" "No way!" Prue said incredulously. "Way." Paige replied, now peeling her second banana.

Piper opened the window, letting the fresh sea air drift into the car, while Prue turned on the radio, searching for the correct wavelength. When they'd left San Francisco, they had listened to, as Paige usually put it, 'angsty teen rock', but now all that could be heard on that frequency was static. After some fine tuning, the voice of an announcer could be heard. "And now, people, Otis Redding with "The dock of the Bay" on Oldies fm!" "Ooooh, leave that on!" Phoebe squealed. "That's Grams' song!" As the first notes of the song filled the car, Phoebe joined in, singing along with the radio.

By the chorus, all three of her sisters had joined in as well, falling easily into an old routine they'd developed when they were still kids, living with Grams. Grams had always been a big fan of 'real music', as she called it, and through being exposed to it all the time, the four young Halliwells had developed a fine taste for music from that period of time.

"I left my hooooooooome in Georgia," Paige crooned, drawing out the 'home', after which Prue joined in with "Headed for the 'Frisco baaahaaay!" The reference to their hometown had always made this their favorite part of the song.

"And I've had nothing to live for, looks like nothing's gonna head my waaahaaay!" Phoebe and Piper sang together, breaking out the old-school dance moves as well.

The people in the cars around the Jeep were watching the four dark-haired girls doing their routine in the car with smiles on their faces. After all, it was amusing to see Phoebe and Paige, both pretending they had microphones in their hands, put their heads together and sing enthusiastically, with Prue and Piper in the front performing a stunted version of a complicated background dance.

"Just sittin' here restin' my bones," Prue sang, "and this loneliness won't leave me alone,"

"Two thousand miles I roamed," Piper joined in, "just to make this dock my home!" All four again joined in the last chorus, bobbing their heads and tapping their feet in time with the music.

As the song ended, the sisters collapsed in their seats, laughing like crazy. "I have to say," Phoebe panted, "That dance is a lot harder to do when you're strapped into a car seat." Paige nodded enthusiastically, while happily munching on the last bit of banana. Piper started the car when the cue moved, and drove onto the ferry.

-PPPP-

A/N: So… What do you think? I wrote this a while ago after I watched Practical Magic, and I've always thought it would make a great crossover to do with Charmed, especially after I found out there weren't any yet (at least on this site)… Please review, but don't be too harsh.. It's my first fic!