Angelically Charmed: Priorities are a Prue
Paige sat the breakfast table sipping her chamomile tea. Piper stood across from her scooping the girls of breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon.
"Didn't you say, the man in your dream didn't have a face?"
"So?" Paige shrugged, and reached for spoonful of sugar that sat in the bowl in the center of the table.
"So then how can you be so certain that it was Drake"?
"Well Duh?" Paige said sarcastically as she swirled the spoon around and around in her cup. "He's a D-E-"M-O-N"
"Demon" Melinda answered at her aunt's attempt to spell the word. D-E-M-O-N, that spells demon"
Piper smiled and ran a hand through her daughter's hair. "That's very good sweetie, but somehow I don't think that word will be on your spelling list this week" Lifting up two plates with one hand, the motherly witch directed Melinda and Ally to get ready for school.
"Can Amanda orb us to school since she's big now pretty please!" Both girls pleaded in unison using their best and most adorable grins.
"No" Piper replied drawing out the word, "Just because Amanda looks like a grown up doesn't mean that we can risk exposure. Now hurry up and Leo will drive you"
Paige waved sweetly as the two younger Halliwell's ran towards the door and collected their backpacks, "Ew, Speaking of Amanda, what are we going to about her and school. She can't exactly show at Miss Cleary's 3rd grade classroom, now can she?"
Piper continued collecting the breakfast dishes accumulating a huge stack, "Oh, I hadn't thought about that…"
"Thought about what?" Amanda's long brown hair swayed back and forth as she came towards the table. Squeezing in behind Paige, Amanda took the liberty to kiss Paige on the cheek.
"Morning Aunt Paige"
"Morning, Angel Girl" Paige stared at Amanda carefully noting something familiar about her clothes. "Is that my pink halter top and jean skirt?"
Amanda stood upright, showing off the attire, "Yeah you like it? I can't exactly fit into my Sprokets and Keds anymore"
"No, I guess you can't" Paige answered dully as Piper returned from the kitchen.
"Now about school, we need to find away to get you enrolled so that nobody knows that it's you"
Amanda leaned over and plucked an apple from the fruit bowl, "What? I don't need to go school, I'm going demon hunting with you guys. Some creep is after aunt Paige right?"
"Drake is the creep," Paige muttered softly under her breath.
"Demon Hunting, Missy?" Piper hands fell to her hips in an authoritative manner. Hadn't Amanda learned anything on her little adventure last night? "Does your Mother know about this little plan of yours?"
"No, she wants you to take me to the high school and enroll me as your cousin, Amanda Bennett"
"ME?" Piper roared, "Prue wants me to do it!"
Prue stepped into the room, still wearing the clothes she'd had on the night before, "Is there a problem, I need to go up to the afterlife to take care of some things"
"Take care of some things?" Piper challenged did you forget that Phoebe just died and that Andy is still missing?"
Prue looked at Piper hurt, "Piper of course, I didn't. I have every available witch and whitelighter out there searching for Andy."
"Everybody but us" Paige put in curtly earning the evil eye from Prue.
"Prue we just think you should be a little more concerned that's all" For Amanda's sake Piper didn't voice her worries about Andy possibly being tortured or turned to the other side by a demon, but deep in her heart, she felt that Prue had lost the Tracer for good this time.
Piper, I am concerned, I just have responsibilities, I'm the ruler of the Wiccan world " Prue stopped her words short and began to gape at Amanda's outfit, "and my daughter is running around in a mini-skirt that makes her look like Eddie like from Desperate Housewives."
"I prefer Gabrielle!" Paige's head popped up taking offense, " Andthe outfit is mine, btw!"
"I know and she looks a little too grown up in it" Prue placed her hands on Amanda's shoulders, hinting ather daughter's womanly figure,"that's why more than ever I'm determined to find a way to reserve this"
"Reverse it? I thought Leo said you couldn't"
Prue bit down on her lip, "there is also a demonic tracer after her; one that can kill her. Piper, I have to do something" As much as she loved Andy and wanted him back, she knew that he'd rather die that let anything enter their lives that harm one of his girls.
Prue tenderly, kissed Amanda's temple, "I have to go. Take care of your little sister and no using your powers unless aunt Piper or Paige say it's okay"
"Yes Ma'am" Amanda sighed as her mother started for the kitchen
"And change your clothes!"
"Only if you say hi to Aunt Phoebe!" Amanda crowed causing her mother to stop at the kitchen door. There were rules to the newly death, rules that even the Halliwells were forced to follow.
"I wish I could," Prue blew her daughter and sisters a kiss. "Have Leo come get me, if you need anything"
Piper, Paige, and Amanda all watched as an Elder appeared in the kitchen to escort Prue up to the afterlife. All remained quite, until Piper glanced at the clock.
"I've got to get to the club, I've got Kelly Clarksen booked tonight and short a bartender."
At that moment, the baby monitor on the table started to light up, emitting the fussy cries of Glenda. "Excuse me," Paige told Amanda politely, "Somebody's hungry" Paige quickly padded to the spare room and opened the door to find the room covered in roses of all colors, red, yellow, pink and even purple.
"Uh…" Paige's mouth dropped open as she walked inside to find Drake standing behind the door.
"I hope you like them" he said, pulling a long stemmed rose from one of the vases. "I thought maybe I could apologize for whatever you think I did to you last night"
Paige's eyes fell to the rose. "I-I-don't knowwhat to say" she swallowed feeling touched by his gesture.
Drake slipped his index finger under her chin, so that they were face to face. "I'm not a demon anymore Paige, I promise you that" he told her brushing the side of her face with the back of his hand.
"And I believe you"Paige whispered staringback into his amazing hazel colored eyes, "Now if' you'll excuse, I have to get Glenda"
1930
"Prue?"
Francis sat on the edge of Andy's bed dabbing his forehead with a damp cloth. Earlier that morning Capone's men had phoned to say that their captured immortal was waking up and that Al wanted Francis present.
"Who's Prue?" Francis asked watching Andy's blue eyes become small slits.
Andy squinted and blinked for several seconds trying to gather his bearings. There was an intense pain radiating through his abdomen and torso. Fever, he was running a fever too he assessed feeling heat searing from his dry lips. "She's my wife," he finally answered opening his eyes wide to check his new surroundings. "Where am I?"
"Someplace you don't want to be" Francis answered rewetting the cloth in the bowl of water that set on the nightstand.
"No…no" Andy replied hoarsely, swallowing against his parched dry throat. ": Water"
"Of Course" Francis filled a small water glass from a nearby glass. Skillfully she placed her hand behind Andy's neck and helped him sit up so that he could drink.
"Thanks" he coughed. lying against the pillow. "What happened to me?"
"You were brought here by Death and shot by Capone's men" Francis told him.
"Death?" Andy's eyes narrowed slightly. "How do you know about Death?"
"I am an immortal like you. Brought here by Death ten years ago and sold to my master, Frank Nitti."
Master? Sold? Frank Nitti? Andy looked at the women confused. How did Death have the power to transport people who weren't destined to die? Was this some sort of new afterlife he didn't know about? "Just what sort of hell am I in?"
"I already told you, one from which you cannot escape."
"Yeah well we'll see about that" Concentrating, Andy tried to orb, but nothing happened. "Damn! No powers, he should have known. He was no longer in the present world.
"What year is this?"
"Chicago1930. Death made a deal with the spirits of old some mobsters who refused to move onto the afterlife. In exchange for their silence, he trades them immortals like you and I to a slave trader and lets them play out their fantasy of how the world should be."
"1930?" Andy repeated stifling, another cough. A sharp pain coursed through his stomach, making him feel like his insides were on fire "I need Leo, my whitelighter".
"There are no white lighters here," Francis answered pulling back the sheet to inspect his wound. "Only demons"
P3
"No it's okay, Jason. I'll find someone else. Just take care of yourself and get better". Piper stood behind the bar phoning would be bartenders. Unfortunately she'd been on the phone for nearly two hours and had yet to find a replacement.
"Shouldn't you be at home mourning the death of your dear sister?" Death stood before her dressed in his black robes and callous manner.
Striking a cocky pose, Piper slammed her address book on the counter and looked him sneeringly, "I'm missing a bartender." She said flatly, "And if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have a dead sister to grieve over now would I?"
The angel shrugged in usual, smug way. "As the angel of destiny told Prue, it was Phoebe's time."
"That's a load of crap! You threatened Pure and took Phoebe from us"
Death stepped up closer the bar, "I don't take people unless their name appears on my list. You know that, Piper."
"I know that and if I could I'd blow your sorry ass to pieces"
On the contrary it's your ass that should be blown away. You messed with the Grand Design again! Austin hasn't taken a soul in nearly twenty-four hours."
"Good for her, then maybe some deserving families will get sometime with the people they love." Piper grumbled knowing that like Amanda, Austin too had been cheated from her childhood by being given the destiny of death.
"I'm not the emeny Piper, surely Prue told you that" Death placed his hands on the bar, "But because of your little spell, I am in a bind, a bind that only you can fix"
"Screw you" Piper turned her back to open a package of peanuts.
"On the contrary, you are the one who is screwed". Death flicked his fingers, releasing a silvery glow shooting straight into Piper's back. Grinning, he watched with delight as Piper's body disappeared into a ghostly plane.
Once in the afterlife, Prue's attire changed from that of street clothing to her long flowing royal robes. The trusted fairy Thistle sat on her shoulder as Prue made her way through Melinda's Warren's sacred garden.
"Melinda, I miss you" Prue signed thinking of her beloved mentor and ancestor. Brought to death by destiny for her meddling in saving the Charmed Ones from Natalie Melinda's spirit had been ordered to be recycled. The once powerful Warren Witch and Matriarch to the Halliwells was now living some place on earth.
A warm wind, surrounded the Charmed witch and birds sang as she continued her trek, pass the all the seeing fountain to a stream of water known as the pool of the dearly departed. Sinking to her knees, Prue placed her hand in the water causing it to ripple. The water moved here and their forming faces of lost loved ones. The first face to appear was that of Melinda's followed by Prue's mother Patty, Penny, Glenn and finally Phoebe.
"Phoebe" Prue whispered, reaching out to touch the water. The image seemed to smile at her until Prue's fingers came in contact with the water. The water rippled and disappeared fading as quickly as it had appeared.
Her little sister was gone, bound by the laws of the dead until the Elder's and the Angel of Destiny saw it fit for her to return. "I'm so sorry" Prue gulped forcing back ragging sobs.
"The Afterlife is but a precious time, if anyone should know that it should be you" Prue turned to see the Elder, Elaina standing behind her.
"Forgive me but at the moment it doesn't seem so precious," Prue pulled herself forward and rose to her feet missing the last vision that appeared in the pond. It was a vision yet to come: slowly the adult face of Amanda appeared, along with the demonic tracer Declan and a babe yet to be named.
Amanda pushed a strand of her golden brown hair away from her face as she tiredly looked through the book. "There's nothing here on how to call a lost Dad" she grumbled, "not that I could find it if there was one" The book of Shadows was huge filled with endless pages of spells and vanquishes that had never been indexed.
The young witch squinted as a cool wind from out of nowhere blowing through her hair, turning the pages of the book. Unafraid, Amanda waited for the pages to stop. This was an experience she'd seen many times with her mother and her aunts. There was always a reason she told herself ,repeating words on the page in which the pages had stopped:
Hear these words
Hear the rhyme
Heed the hope within my mind
Bring me the one l want to find
Safe from harm and of sound mind.
Amanda watched hopeful as a mixture of blue orbs and angelic lights began to form, depositing the form of an old wrinkled and crippled man of one hundred and ten before her. The man looked at Amanda carefully with the most amazing blue eyesshe'd ever seen. They were her eyes. Could it be?No...it couldn't, could it? Amanda pressed her hands to her face in disbelieve as the door to the attic swung open and Paige appeared, "what are you doing?"
"I think I just found Dad" Amanda dared to breath.