Setting: March 2028.

Chapter One - Between a Rock and a Hard Place

"I don't want to do this," said Piper for the tenth time in the past hour. "Why do we have to do this? What is the point?"

Leo didn't take his eyes off of the road, but for the tenth time since they're gotten in the car he silently thanked whatever higher power had persuaded Piper to hand over the car keys this morning. In her current state of mind, she was in no position to drive. "Phoebe asked us to," said Leo. "And you know she believes in this, even if you don't."

We don't, his mind corrected.

Piper, who he felt practically lived in his head after so many years of marriage, said, "Oh, don't act like this is something you believe in, mister. You don't like being on the therapist's couch any more than I do, so don't pretend otherwise."

"I'm not pretending," said Leo. "I just think that we should make the best of the situation and try to remember that this is all for Phoebe."

"Family therapy," muttered Piper. "With a magical therapist. Where did Phoebe find this quack anyhow?"

"Yellow pages?" joked Leo.

"Ha," said Piper. "Very amusing."

For over three years Phoebe had been attending therapy sessions with a certified psychiatrist who also happened to be a fellow witch. While Leo was sure this made for more honest sessions than Phoebe would have found with any other doctor, he still didn't think that this type of therapy could be all that helpful. In his experience, analyzing your problems with a perfect stranger wasn't going to do you too much good. Phoebe never understood this.

"You used to be a Whitelighter," she'd say. "Isn't that all about getting perfect strangers to talk out their problems with you?"

"It's not the same thing," he'd argue. "Those problems are necessary in the here and now kind of way. Talking them out is to overcome the obstacle in order to be able to fulfill your destiny. It has nothing to do with reaching back to your childhood and blaming your parents or using vocabulary tools or whatever else it is that those people do..."

And so the argument would continue. Paige preferred to stay out of the matter completely, though Leo was pretty sure she saw both sides of the argument. After all, she had been to therapy after her parents had died and AA had been another type of group therapy for her. But he also knew that she didn't subscribe to the type of mumbo-jumbo therapy that involved overanalyzing your entire life.

Of course, the truth was that it had been Paige who had recommended this to Phoebe; more for Lena and Nora than Phoebe herself. Nora had refused to go at all and Lena had gone only a handful of times before quitting. Phoebe had loved it and declared to all of them that it was exactly what she had needed for years.

So Leo had reluctantly conceded that perhaps therapy was good for some people.

Some people didn't include himself.

Two weeks ago, Phoebe had dropped by the manor to ask him and Piper if they would be willing to attend a therapy session with her. "Annelise asked that you come," Phoebe had said. "Paige and Henry too."

Piper had hemmed and hawed over it, but finally agreed. Now, it appeared, she was regretting her admission.

"I know this has been hard for Phoebe," Piper said, "but is it really necessary to get the entire family involved? I mean, isn't this about Coop? I could understand her bringing Nora and Lena..." She trailed off reluctantly.

"I don't know," said Leo. "I guess we'll find out."

Piper sighed and leaned back in her seat, clearly still out of sorts. Both he and Piper had wanted to be at home this afternoon; Meli was coming home for spring break and neither of them had seen her since Christmas. Chris had offered to pick her up at the airport and Leo only hoped that nothing happened to distract him.

"This is it," said Piper, perking up and leaning to the right. "That building right there."

Leo pulled into the parking lot and swung the car into the nearest spot. A few spots away he could see Phoebe's small Toyota.

"Ready?" he asked.

"No," said Piper. And she opened the door and exited the car.

"Annelise, this is my sister Piper and her husband Leo."

Leo smiled at the young doctor in front of him, sticking out his hand to shake hers. She had a lot of curly red hair piled on top of her head and glasses that gave her an owlish complexion and clashed somewhat with her large, toothy smile. "I've heard so much about you both," she said releasing Leo's hand and gesturing for them to sit on the wide couch.

"Great," said Piper as she let Leo's hand on the small of her back guide her to the couch.

"Wha-" the doctor began to ask only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Reinforcements are here," Leo whispered in Piper's ear. She gave him a small smile and settled herself close to him so their legs were touching.

"Sorry we're late," he heard Paige say as she entered the room. "Are we late?"

"Piper and Leo just got here," said Phoebe, and Leo wasn't sure if that was an affirmative answer to Paige's question or not.

Paige came up behind him and dropped her left hand on the back of the couch. "Hey guys," she said.

The doctor greeted Paige and Henry with the same toothy smile she'd given Leo and Piper. "I'm Annelise Hudson," she said sticking out her hand again.

"Paige," said Paige. "This is my husband, Henry."

"Nice to meet you," said Henry.

"Oh, please, sit down, sit down," said the doctor. Paige stepped past Leo and Piper and sat herself next to Piper on the couch. Henry sat down on her other side and Phoebe folded herself into a large chair catty-corner to the couch. The doctor leaned back against her desk and tapped a pen against her front teeth as she stared at each of them.

"Do you all know why I asked Phoebe to invite you here today?"

Piper opened her mouth, Leo was certain to make a snarky comment, but was preempted by Paige elbowing her in the side. "No, we don't," said Paige.

"Well," said the doctor, "I had Phoebe bring you here today because she has something to ask you. We thought it would be easier if I was with her."

"Since when do you need moral support to talk to your family?" asked Piper, completely ignoring the doctor and focusing entirely on Phoebe.

"Piper, please don't interrupt," said the doctor. She smiled again as though to reassure Piper, but Leo was fairly sure it was just adding fuel to the fire. "Phoebe," she continued, all the while grinning at Piper, "would you like to tell your family why you asked them here?"

Phoebe nodded, her eyes entirely focused on her hands clasped in her lap. "I've been coming to therapy for three years now," she said, "and Annelise has helped me make a lot of progress with problems I've been having for years." She paused and glanced up at the doctor for a moment. The woman had finally turned her focus away from Piper and now stared intently at Phoebe, encouraging her with a nod of her head. "But there's one thing that Annelise thinks is very important for me to do in order to feel complete." Phoebe took a deep breath and finally at them directly. "Have any of you heard of a destiny quest?"

Leo felt as though he'd been doused with a bucket of cold water. A destiny quest? She couldn't be serious.

"Leo?" asked Phoebe, clearly reading his thoughts on his face. The others turned to look at him.

"Yes," said Leo, "I've heard of people completing a destiny quest before."

"What is it?" asked Paige.

"You cast a spell," said Leo, "and go back into your past as an observer. But you can also make changes and see how your destiny could have played out differently. None of the changes are permanent, but I've never seen anyone come back the same."

"It's not dangerous," said Phoebe.

"Says who?" asked Leo. "You can't change the past and if you go looking to you're just going to screw around with your mind in ways you might not be able to handle."

Phoebe opened her mouth to parry back, but before she could, Henry said, "Hold on a second. Can someone explain to me how it is possible that a destiny could be different? Isn't destiny all about things being predetermined?"

To Leo's surprise, it was Piper who answered the question in a small, tight voice that didn't seem to be hers. "Well that's the real point, isn't it?" she asked. "To see if what has happened really is destiny or if we could have changed it all somehow. Right, Phoebe?"

"Exactly," said Phoebe. "And Annelise thinks-"

"So what can of worms are you looking to open up exactly?" asked Piper. The fury was barely concealed in her voice. "Do you want to see if Mom was meant to die? Or Prue? Or do you just want to see once and for all if you should have ended up with Cole?"

"Piper, you don't understand," said Phoebe. "I need-"

"Alright," said Piper, standing up. "You need. So you go ahead and do it. I want nothing to do with this."

"Piper," said Annelise, "your support is extremely important to Phoebe. In fact, she wanted to know if you and your sister would also like-"

Leo shook his head sharply and stood up next to his wife. "I think we've heard enough," he said. He stared at Phoebe for a moment; her eyes were tearing up, but he felt no sympathy for her. Piper had been through more than enough tears and struggles and her share of guilt regarding so many things. For the life of him he couldn't imagine why Phoebe would want to drag Piper back into it now.

"Come on, honey," he said so softly only Piper could hear, and without another word they left the office.