DEATH TAKES THE BENNETTS

He stepped onto the grassy embankment and headed towards his family. His family seemed to be the only mourners in the cemetery. They stood near five gravesites. 'The Bennetts' Wyatt surmised, now sure he was back in the future. No one ever mentioned that premonitions were this crazy! He hoped that he'd be able to stop himself from being in the cemetery later in the week. He liked the Bennetts; he refused to let them die.

A man he's never met before joins him as he walks through the cemetery.

He speaks, "Don't blame yourself, Wyatt. There was nothing you could do."

"Who the hell are you?" Wyatt growled. Usually Wyatt was even tempered but this week was deliberately trying his patience and bouncing on his last frayed nerve!

This earned him a look of amazement, "Chris said you've been acting funny this week. I thought it was just a ploy for the two of you to remain difficult." He stopped and put a restraining hand on Wyatt's arm, "Look, I know your family doesn't want me. You haven't been exactly subtle," he mumbled. "But I knew what to expect when I asked for the job." He gave Wyatt a kind look, "I'm not here to interfere; I'm here to help you. I really want to help all of you. Maybe when the pain isn't so fresh I can tell all of you all about the Bennetts…"

"How do you know the Bennetts or anything about them?" Wyatt growled again.

The White-Lighter became angry, "Boy, I am not like the wimpy robed Elders that you're used to, practicing their hands off approach." He scoffed, "Tell me you don't want or need my services, ignore my help when I offer it to you, hit me with an energy blast, I don't care. But, DO. NOT. PRETEND. TO. BE. STUPID. WYATT. Whether you want to admit it or not, I deserve more respect than that. I knew the Bennetts a damn sight better than you did!" He angrily orbed away, tired of dealing with the stubbornness of the Halliwell/Cooper/Mitchell clan.

"I thought you were going to give him a chance?" Piper asked her son tiredly, having seen the interaction.

"I was?" Wyatt asked, "Why, again?"

Piper gave her son a searching look. Deciding she didn't have the energy to deal with him this week she refused to answer.

"Mom, is it my fault the Bennetts are dead?" Wyatt asked, remembering the White-Lighter's words. Ironically he had been telling Wyatt not to blame himself. But why else would he be warning against it if it wasn't at least partially true?

Piper choked on a sob, "No, Wyatt, it wasn't your fault." Tears rolled down her cheeks, "I just wish I had known sooner," she cried, "Maybe we could have protected them…"

Phoebe hurried over to her sister and nephew. A powerful empath, Phoebe felt Piper's pain as strongly as her own and vowed to be strong for her big sister, again. It just wasn't fair! She damned the fates that allowed them the same heartache twice! "Come on, honey. I know you wanted to say something." She led Piper away, without a word to Wyatt, neither glanced back.

Wyatt stood next to Chris. "Chris, now isn't the time, but I have a problem…" he began quietly.

Chris turned red-rimmed eyes to his brother, "You're not usually so callous so it must be a big problem," he noted. He couldn't understand why Wyatt's heart wasn't breaking. You didn't have to be an empath to feel Piper's pain!

"Mel did a power switching spell, Sunday night. My days are out of whack and I have no idea what's going on half the time. I think I'm in a premonition but I never heard of one lasting so long. Or being so detailed," he added.

"When Marshall calms down you might try asking him, he was the Bennetts White-Lighter before he became ours, maybe he has experience, Palmer had premonitions. I'm sure if Aunt Phoebe or Mel had visions like this we'd have heard about it." He looked at Wyatt critically, "Did you say you have Mel's power?" At Wyatt's nod, Chris mused, "Well maybe it works differently for you because you're 'twice blessed' or it's not your power. Don't worry, Wyatt, I'm with you. If there's any way from preventing this week I'm in," he vowed, steel replacing the tears. The brothers fell silent as Piper began to speak.

"We didn't know you well, and that's a shame," she turned tear filled eyes to Leo, who silently encouraged her. "But in a way I guess we did." She started to sob and was instantly joined by Phoebe and Paige, who each held a side of Piper as though afraid that without their support she would collapse. Her smile watery, she locked gazes with each sister in turn. She continued, "It's not fair. You found a way back to us, you were always so determined, I should have known you would," she directed this at the second casket, the one that held the only female in the Bennett family, Priscilla. "We didn't have enough time!" She cried, "We never get enough time," she shook her head sadly trying to clear the tears blurring her vision. "I can't do this!" She broke into her sisters' arms, "not again," quietly so that only Phoebe and Paige could hear. Phoebe nodded to Paige, who rose and tried to continue Piper's speech. It was unfair to make Paige do it, she had suffered the loss too, but she'd known her for far much less time than either Piper or Phoebe.

"I got my greatest wish," Paige tried to smile through her tears. "I finally got to meet you. And you were everything I always heard you were. You and your family will be missed." Tears ran down her snowy white cheeks, leaving shimmering trails. She looked into the faces around her, her husband, her children, her brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews and finally gazed at her sisters, she too directed her last words to the second casket, "Rest in peace, Prue."

A/N my big surprise…whee…although I bet a lot of people knew it. I hinted, gave spoilers in my bio….