New update! :) Because this is so much more fun to write than my neuropsych essay :L I'd love to know what you think. Reviews make this mountain of coursework semi-bearable ;)

"So this Source guy is gone for good then?" Hanna asked once they'd finished telling the girls the events of the day.

"We think so." Ella informed them. "We may have vanquished him but he was very powerful and had a lot of followers. They'll probably come after us eventually."

"Aren't you scared?" Emily questioned, worried for her friends and Aria's family.

"We always get by." Ella said, maybe a little too calmly for anyone else's liking. It wasn't her life that she was worried about, anyway. Her focus was, and always had been, on her family. She hated having dragged Aria into this mess and was more worried about the effect it had on her than anything else.

"What time is my mom coming?" Alison wondered.

"She should be here soon." Aria said, checking her watch.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the front door. "Is that her?" Ali asked. Ella looked out the window to see the Mrs DiLaurentis' car parked in front of their house. She nodded in confirmation. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Alison admitted.

"Do you need a few more minutes?" Ella asked. Alison nodded and Ella promptly walked up to the window and froze their street with ease. "And them?" She asked Alison directly, indicating to her friends.

"Please." Alison whispered, a rare shred of vulnerability shining through again. Ella waved her hand at the four girls in the room, who froze with a look of confusion spread across each of their faces from the conversation between the two witches that they didn't really understand.

"There's still time to back out." Aria reminded Alison, somehow not put off by the fact that Emily, Hanna and Spencer were frozen in their living room.

"It's not fair to keep your mom in the dark." Ella told her firmly. "I don't even want to imagine the pain she must have gone through. If anything happened to Aria or Mike..." She trailed off.

"You'd probably blow up the town." Alison finished for her, a bit of her natural fire coming back.

"That's not funny." Aria pointed out.

"Scarily accurate though." Ella smiled sadly. "What I'm saying is she'll be so happy to know you're alive and..." Ella trailed off again, searching for the right words. "Relatively safe." She decided on.

"So is your mom a witch too?" Aria asked Ali, who had never really gone into detail about her magical heritage.

"Yeah. She told me on my 15th birthday."

"But that means she wouldn't..." Ella started, before being interrupted by a knocking at the door. "Are you ready?" She asked Alison once she reached the front door.

"As I'll ever be."

Ella opened the door and came face to face with a rather angry and confused Mrs DiLaurentis.

"What's happened to the street?" She asked Ella sharply, not noticing the girls.

"I think we need to talk." Ella replied, keeping her cool. "Would you like to come in?"

The other woman stepped inside, noticing for the first time the three frozen girls. "Did you do this to them?" She shouted, suddenly feeling protective over Alison's friends.

Ella was confused by the fact that her first remark wasn't about Alison, until she looked over and saw that both she and her daughter had left the room. It was then that she remembered that she hadn't unfrozen the girls, waving her hand in their direction to undo the magic.

"What are you talking about?" Hanna exclaimed.

"Wait!" Spencer interrupted. "Where did they go?"

"Girls?" Jessica DiLaurentis questioned. The three teenagers turned their head to the woman who had just entered the house without them knowing. "What's going on, Ella?" She asked.

"I can explain." She started, knowing that whatever Jessica was thinking probably put her in a bad light. "Aria, where are you?" She called out. Everyone could hear whispering coming from the kitchen, and Ella figured that Alison had taken Aria out there to hide, not ready to face her mother.

"We're just coming." Aria's voice called back.

"Will someone tell me what's happening?" Jessica repeated, sounding impatient.

"It's about the Source." Ella started. "And Alison."

"How do you... what do you know?" She asked sceptically.

"We know that you're a witch. We wanted to let you know that we've vanquished the Source and..." Ella stopped, not knowing how to break the news to the woman standing in front of her. "I think you should sit down." She said.

"How did you vanquish him?" Jessica asked. She didn't know of any witch strong enough to get rid of such a great evil.

"With the power of three." Ella smiled knowingly. "And a little extra help from out family line."

"You mean you're..." She started.

"The Charmed ones." Ella finished for her.

The two women then sat in silence, not knowing how to continue.

Alison, who had been listening in from the other side of the closed kitchen door, realised that nothing was going to happen until she came out. Slowly, she opened the door. The girls' eyes widened at her movements but Alison didn't notice. She was focused on her mother, or ore specifically the back of her head.

"Mom?" She called out timidly.

Mrs DiLaurentis turned her head to see her daughter standing in front of her, next to her friend Aria.

"Alison?" She asked quietly, as if worried that she was hallucinating.

"It's me, mom." Ali smiled, tears forming in her eyes.

"Are you a ghost?"

"I'm alive." She said. This was all that was needed. Without a second's thought Jessica DiLaurentis had got up from the couch and was enveloping her daughter in a tight hug.

"It's really you? I can't believe it!" She screamed. "I've missed you so much."

In that second the coldness in her voice and the stiffness of her movements vanished and she gave in to her love in a moment that only a mother and daughter could share.

Aria walked around them and sat on the arm of the chair next to her mom, who wrapped an arm around Aria's waist.

"We should give them some time." Ella suggested to the group. "Do you want me to ask Paige to orb you both home?" She asked the DiLaurentis'.

Alison nodded through her tears of joy, her mother too overwhelmed to communicate clearly with Ella.

Ella left them alone and headed up to the attic where Paige and Phoebe were. Without knocking, she opened the door to see her mom sat on the couch with her sisters.

"Mom?" Ella asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm getting to know my daughter." She smiled, gesturing towards Paige who was sat to her right. "We've never really had a proper conversation, have we?" Paige shook her head.

"That's great." Ella smiled honestly. "I've really missed you mom." She added sadly, before turning to Paige. "Do you mind orbing Alison and her mom back to their house? It's probably not a good idea for Ali to be seen in public just yet and they wanted some time alone."

"Sure." Paige said, standing up and heading downstairs.

"Did you find anything out about seers?" Ella asked Phoebe.

"There's some information in the Book but nothing we didn't already know. Mom said she's going to have an ask around when she goes back. Grams seems to know everything about everything so there's a chance she'll have some ideas." Phoebe explained.

"Ok. You're both welcome to come downstairs. Byron and Mike aren't here."

"I'd love that Piper." Patty smiled. "It would be nice to get to know Aria properly."

"I should warn you some of her friends are there as well."

"The more, the merrier." Patty commented, the smile that had been on her face since she'd been summoned never leaving her lips.

The three witches headed downstairs just as Paige orbed back in to the living room.

"Girls, this is my mom Patty." Ella introduced once everyone's eyes fell on them. Hanna, Spencer and Emily were still entranced by Paige's orbing, not being used to magic. "Mom, these are Aria's friends Spencer, Hanna and Emily." She said, gesturing to each of them in turn. "And you've met my daughter Aria before."

"It's nice to meet you." Emily said, offering her hand for Patty to shake. Realising that the woman was a ghost, she quickly withdrew it and tried to cover up her mistake with a cough.

"I can touch you." Patty smiled. "My lovely daughters were able to make me corporeal a long time ago." She said, extending her arm and allowing Emily to shake her hand.

Meanwhile, Alison and Jessica DiLaurentis were settling down in their home.

"I can't believe you're really here." Jessica smiled, tears of joy flowing freely down her cheeks. She no longer had to keep up the facade she would in public of pretending to have dealt with what had happened. She wouldn't have shown how much everything affected her until she was behind closed doors.

"I wanted to come back." Alison admitted. "But..." She trailed off.

"But what? Why couldn't you tell me you were alive?"

"No one knew. The Source was after me and I had to convince him that I was dead so everyone else had to believe it as well." Alison explained, taking a sip from the mug of tea in her hands.

"But your friends knew."

"Aria found me by scrying."

"When?" Jessica asked.

"Two days ago."

The shock of finding her daughter alive was eating at Jessica DiLaurentis. She didn't know how to deal with this information. On one hand she was overjoyed but at the same time she was mad at Alison for hiding for so long and letting her believe she was dead.

"So she's known for two whole days and in that time none of you thought to tell me you were ok?" She said, raising her voice as the tears continued to flow down her face.

"I wasn't ok. I couldn't be sure I was safe until the Source was vanquished." Alison argued back. "It had to be a secret."

Without another moment's hesitation Jessica pulled her daughter into a tight hug. Alison could feel her shirt getting wet from her mom's tears but couldn't find it in herself to care. Living in hiding had been so lonely and terrifying that she relished in the comfort that her mother's arms brought her. She hadn't enjoyed one of her hugs this much since before she started high school. It was as if the rift that had started to appear between them as she grew up no longer existed.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all that alone." Jessica whispered, her voice hoarse from crying. "And I'm sorry for shouting just now." She hoped Alison understood how difficult it was for her to process what was happening. She was only just starting to make some peace with her disappearance and then Alison showed up alive and well. It was just the start of what she was sure would be an emotional rollercoaster.

Alison pulled away from the hug, brushing a fallen tear from her cheek. "Do you mind if I go to sleep?" She asked. "It's been a difficult day."

"Your room is just how you left it." Jessica said quietly, still slightly shell-shocked at what was happening.

Alison gave her a smile and headed upstairs to her bedroom.

Once she was out of sight, Jessica had to pinch herself to make sure this wasn't just a cruel dream and she wouldn't wake up to find Alison's bed empty again, as she had done so many times before. She felt like she was on an emotional rollercoaster, not knowing whether to be happy that Alison was alive and safe or mad at her for keeping it a secret for so long and putting her through hell ever since she disappeared.

On top of all this, she had found out that Ella Montgomery and her family were witches as well. Not only witches but the famous Charmed ones. Her Whitelighter had recently told her of whispers she'd heard about them being reconstituted but she'd not heard of anything else about them since the death of the oldest sister years ago.

Back at the Montgomery house Aria and her friends had migrated upstairs to the privacy of Aria's bedroom, leaving Ella, Phoebe, Paige and Patty to talk.

"What are you going to do about Byron?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know." Ella replied. "I don't know if I can trust him but I don't want to put the kids through us arguing if he comes back."

"To play devil's advocate..." Paige started and Phoebe shot her a look as if to say 'Are you sure this is a good idea'. Paige continued nonetheless. "How have things been with you and Leo lately?"

"What?" Ella asked, her voice high as she was torn between confusion and shock.

"I mean it's obvious you two both have feelings for each other."

"Paige!" Phoebe scolded.

"I'm just saying she should consider all the options."

"What would you suggest, Phoebe?" Ella asked. "I mean you are the advice columnist."

"I think mom's in a better position to help with this." Phoebe commented.

All eyes turned to Patty, who had been quiet throughout the conversation.

"You have to follow your heart, whatever you do."

"But Mike and Aria..."

"I know how it feels to want to protect your children from any pain and that's why I think you should do what will make you happy. From what I've heard Aria is more than capable of understanding and they can both still see him."

"The question is who do you love?" Paige asked.

There was a pause as Ella was unable to articulate an answer straight away. "I love Byron." She said. "But I also love Leo. I don't think I've stopped loving him but we can't have a future together. He's a Whitelighter and I'm a witch. Not to mention the fact that he's not aging and looks a lot younger than me."

"He'd clip his wings for you." Phoebe commented.

"I couldn't ask him to do that."

"You wouldn't have to and you know that. I think that's what scares you." Phoebe added honestly.

The sound of a key was heard turning in the lock of the front door.

"I should go." Patty commented. "Bye girls. I love you." She smiled, disappearing before their eyes.

Seconds later Byron entered the house. In a panic Ella froze the room, not expecting to see him.

"What's he doing here?" Paige asked.

"I don't know. He said he was staying in a hotel for the night."

"Maybe he wants to apologise?"

"You should hear him out." Phoebe added. "Do you want us to leave? I don't think he saw us."

Reluctantly, Ella nodded and Phoebe and Paige headed in to the kitchen where they could hear what was going on. They were both too curious to go upstairs and leave them alone.

Once they were out of sight Ella unfroze the room.

Byron's eyes immediately fell on the couch to see the two recently vacated seats. "Where did they..." He started, trailing off. "Never mind. I thought I just saw your sisters but I must be imagining things." He brushed it off, unsure about what he'd seen.

"What are you doing back?" Ella asked.

"I wanted us to talk as a family. Mike and Aria deserve to know what's going on."

"Mike's out and Aria has friends over." She replied as calmly as possible, the urge to blow something up growing with her rage at the nerve of him coming back so soon.

"Oh." Byron said, slightly deflated. "Maybe we could talk this out?" He tried again.

"Talk this out?" Ella scoffed. "Sure. Next time you feel like cheating on me we should go through the pros and cons together as a family first."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"No of course not. You thought I'd be the good little wife and forgive you for sleeping around. Well guess what..."

Byron interrupted her. "I wasn't sleeping around." He said defensively.

"Sorry I forgot. It was only one person. One student!" Ella shouted. "That makes it so much better." She added, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"It was a mistake." Byron persisted. "I went to see her to tell her we were over. I want us to be a family again like we were in Iceland."

"Did she fall on your collar with her lips while you were there?" Ella asked, noticing the pink lipstick marks standing out on Byron's blue shirt.

"She tried to kiss me but I pushed her away." He insisted.

"I don't want to hear this." Ella shouted. As if from nowhere the grandfather clock just to Byron's left exploded, causing them to jump.

"What the hell was that?" Byron asked.

"You need to go." Ella said darkly. "Now." She added in a voice Byron could tell meant not to mess with her. He didn't know what was going on with the clock but he did know that his wife could be very scary when she wanted to; it was just never directed at him to this magnitude.

"I'm leaving." Byron said, backing out of the door. "I'll collect my things while you're at work tomorrow."

Without another word from either of them Byron got in his car and drove away, leaving Ella stood in the middle of the living room in tears.

Once they had heard the door slam, Phoebe and Paige stepped out of the kitchen to comfort their sister. They were followed shortly after by Aria and her friends, who had been sat listening from the top of the stairs after hearing the clock being blown up.

Hanna, Spencer and Emily waved goodbye to Aria and headed for the front door, not wanting to intrude any longer after what had just happened. Ella could feel their looks of pity but didn't look up at them as they left.

Silently, Aria gave her mom a hug as they sat down together on the couch.

"Is dad gone?" She asked quietly.

"I think so." Ella replied through her tears. "How am I going to tell Mike? He doesn't even know about Meredith."

"I'll talk to him." Aria volunteered. She had a feeling Mike would flip out at the news and figured it would be best that their parents weren't around for that. Ella pulled Aria tighter into a hug. Once they had let each other go, Aria stood up, claiming that she was going to work on an assignment.

When she had reached the privacy of her own room she set out the white candles in the now familiar pattern.

"Come on, Prue." She whispered as she lit the first candle. "My mom really needs you."