New Years Cleaners
New Years was upon the Halliwells and Victor was busy planning a huge party for the girls and some of their friends. He knew Phoebe was a little young to stay up until midnight but he figured she'd want to anyways. He was sitting in the sun room, looking over the list of people he'd complied. Just then there was a jingling sound and Leo appeared.
"Leo, you scared me," Victor gasped, not expecting the young whitelighter to just appear like that.
"I'm sorry, Victor. I didn't mean to startle you. How are the plans going for the party?" Leo responded. Victor ran a hand over his eyes.
"It's going. I just don't know who to invite. I don't many of the girls' friends or their friend' parents," Victor sighed.
"Well you don't want to invite too many people…just in case a demon attacks," Leo advised. Even if Victor wasn't one of his charges, it didn't mean he couldn't advise him on magic.
"I know. I just want this to be special for the girls. It's their first New Years without their Grandmother," Victor replied.
"I understand. You could ask them who they want to invite," Leo suggested.
"I have. These are all the people they told me," Victor said with a small laugh, showing Leo the list. There were about twenty names on the list.
"I see your problem. You could have them pick the two or three people they really want to come and invite just them and their parents," he replied.
"Girls, can you come in here for a minute, please?" Victor called. The three girls wandered in from the living room. The sounds of the TV could still be heard.
"I want you each to pick two or three friends that you really want to invite to the party because we can't invite everyone," he explained.
"Why not, Daddy?" Phoebe asked, climbing into his lap.
"Because we don't have enough room for everybody," he lied. He knew they could all see right through it.
"You're just afraid that we might accidentally use magic, aren't you?" Prue asked.
"Well not exactly, Prue. I'm more worried about demons trying to attack and scaring all the guests," Victor answered.
"But they haven't come after us in a long time. Maybe they won't anymore," Piper interjected.
"I certainly hope they won't. But don't you want to keep your friends safe?" he replied. All three girls nodded in the affirmative.
"Ok. So pick who you want to invite so I can send out the invitations," he instructed them, setting Phoebe on her feet so he could stand up. The girls gathered around the list that Phoebe was clutching. Prue immediately circled Andy's name on the list. She circled a couple others and passed the list to Piper. She picked some people and helped Phoebe circle the ones she wanted.
"I want to invite Mommy and Grams," Phoebe voiced.
"We can't invite them, Pheebs. They're dead. You can't invite dead people to a party," Prue replied with an eye roll.
"Why not?" the five-year-old asked.
"Well because…they're dead," the ten-year-old answered.
"Oh," Phoebe murmured.
Prue took the list from Piper and headed in the direction Victor had gone. She found him pulling out a half empty beer from the fridge.
"We picked," she said, offering up the list. He took it and glanced over. He noticed that Andy was the only boy on the list.
"You sure you want to invite Andy Trudeau?" he asked.
"Yes. He's my friend. And he lives next door," Prue answered. She could have friends that were boys. It wasn't against the rules.
"Ok. He's the only boy on the list, that's all," Victor expounded. Prue just shrugged and started back towards the living room.
"Prue," he called out and she turned.
"What?" she asked.
"I'm happy to see you're not failing math," he said.
"You helped," she replied. She had to admit he was a good tutor.
"Go watch some TV. I'll call you all when dinner is ready," he told her. Prue nodded and found her sisters warring over the TV remote.
"Phoebe I don't want to watch this. Give me the remote," Piper demanded.
"No! You got to pick the last show,' the youngest Halliwell argued.
"Phoebe, give me the remote," Piper shot back.
"Hey. I have an idea. How about we do a puzzle together," Prue suggested, telekinetically taking the remote from her baby sister and turning the TV off.
"What kind of puzzle?" Phoebe asked, seeming interested.
"A jigsaw puzzle. One with lots of pieces," Prue answered. Both Phoebe and Piper nodded and Prue went in search of one in the game closet. She returned and dumped all the pieces onto the carpet. After about five minutes Prue was near exploding.
"Where does this piece go?" Phoebe asked for about the millionth time.
"We don't know yet, Phoebe. That's the point of the puzzle. You have to find out," Prue said through pursed lips. Phoebe's lower lip quivered but she didn't cry. Instead she just got up and left the room.
"Now she's going to go cry to Dad," Piper groaned.
"You know she was annoying you too," Prue commented.
"I know but she is only five," Piper retorted.
"She shouldn't have to ask something five million times," Prue grumbled, connecting a few pieces together.
Down the hall Phoebe was sitting in the closet, sobbing. Leo walked by and heard the loud sniffles. He slowly opened the door to see Phoebe sitting on the floor.
"Phoebe what are you doing in the closet?" he asked, bending down to her level.
"Prue yelled at me," Phoebe sniffled.
"Why'd she do that?" he asked, opening his arms. She crawled into his embrace.
"We were doing a puzzle and I asked where a piece went. She yelled at me," Phoebe sniffed some more.
"I'm sure she didn't mean to upset you," Leo cooed, rubbing calming circles on the child's back.
"They treat me like a baby," Phoebe whimpered.
"They just forget sometimes that you're younger, that's all," Leo said, managing to calm her down.
"Thanks, Leo," Phoebe whispered, drying her tears. Leo smiled down at her. He led her back into the living room and sat down with Piper and Prue.
"Need some help?" he asked. Both of the older girls nodded.
Meanwhile, down in the Underworld, the Source was pacing back and forth anxiously. It had been months and he had not been able to even weaken the Charmed Ones. They were only children for God sakes. They couldn't be that powerful. He spun around to face the group of demons that were assembled before him.
"We need to strike hard and fast before they know what hits them," he growled.
"Your Highness, no one has been able to take them on. Not even Barbas succeeded," a shape shifter called out.
"That is because they were not fighting on multiple fronts. We need to attack when they are most vulnerable, less likely to use their magic," the Source snickered. He turned to the Oracle seated at his side.
"Oracle, what do you see?" he asked
"I see…the father is planning some sort of gathering for the New Year. It looks as though he is inviting non-magical creatures. It would be an ideal time to attack," she answered, stroking her crystal ball.
"Very well then. You will attack during their gathering. Force them to use their magic, make them expose it," the Source demanded.
"And when it has been exposed, leave before anyone has time to vanquish you. We want to draw out the Cleaners. They will have no choice but to erase them from existence," the Source boomed. The demons gasped at the mention of the Cleaners. It was a good plan. They would be rid of the Charmed Ones forever and no one would be able to stop them from taking over the world.
Two days later the Halliwells found themselves surrounded by the small collective of friends they had invited over. Prue was sitting on the couch, eating some popcorn when Andy sat down next to her.
"Thanks for inviting me," he said, taking a piece of popcorn from her hand and tossing it in his mouth.
"Well we are friends," Prue said, smiling a little as he took the popcorn.
"Your Dad seems nice," Andy remarked after a moment.
"He's ok, I guess," she sighed, reaching for her glass of sparkling cider.
She looked around at the rest of the party. Everyone seemed to be happy fun. In the kitchen Leo and Victor were mixing up drinks when there was a loud crash and a scream. They both set the drinks down and headed for the source of the noise. They came into the room to see several of their guests hiding behind furniture. A group of demons bearing energy balls were tormenting the mortals. Piper looked nervously at the demon closest to her. She knew she wasn't supposed to use her magic in front of mortals but she also knew that Leo would say they were innocents. So she quickly shot her hands out, freezing the nearest one.
By this point Prue had dragged Andy into the room as they were being pursued by their own gaggle of demons. She managed to send the energy ball of the frozen demon at one of the ones following her, making him explode.
"Daddy, look out!" Phoebe cried. Victor managed to duck just as a fire ball went hurtling inches above his head. The remaining demons managed to corral the three sisters into the center of the room. They had no choice but to fight back. Prue sent several demons flying and Piper tried to freeze as many as she could.
"There's too many of them," Prue gasped, taking hold of her siblings' hands, trying to keep them close. Just then all the demons simultaneously vanished. Prue started to heave a sigh of relief when the scene froze and two figures dressed in white suits appeared.
"Did you freeze the room, Piper?" Prue hissed in the eight-year-old's ear.
"No," Piper answered, looking up at the two men. Leo who had not frozen moved to stand behind the girls.
"What are you doing here?" he asked the two men.
"We have come to clean up the mess that has been made here," one of them answered.
"Who are you?" Prue asked.
"We are the Cleaners. We clean up where magic has been exposed," the second answered.
"We didn't espose magic," Phoebe said.
"I'm afraid you did. This entire group of mortals has witnessed your magic," the first Cleaner explained.
"But that's not our fault. We were attacked by demons," Prue retorted.
"There are no demons here," the second Cleaner stated.
"They left," Piper supplied.
"Look…what are you going to do?" Leo asked.
"Their magic and any memory of it must be erased," the second Cleaner answered.
"What? You're going to erase them?" Leo gasped. They couldn't do that.
"Precisely. Memories will linger but they will fade with time," the first Cleaner assured Leo.
"You can't erase them. You're supposed to be neutral. If you erase the girls, you give Evil the upper hand and that's not very neutral," Leo shot. They had no right to try and erase the Charmed Ones.
"We're the Charmed Ones," Prue added defiantly. Just then Victor unfroze.
"What's going on? Who are these guys?" he asked.
"How did he unfreeze?" one of the Cleaners asked the other.
"I think…I think I unfroze him," Piper admitted.
"These are the Cleaners. They are here to clean up the exposed magic but they think they can do that by erasing the girls from existence," Leo explained in one breath.
"I don't think so. You're not taking my girls away from me," Victor spat.
"Their magic must be cleaned up. And I do not think they are capable of doing it themselves," the first Cleaner said coolly.
"Ok…so erase the memory of the magic from the mortals. Just don't take the girls," Leo begged. The two men in white shared a look but nodded.
"It is done. Next time we will not be so lenient," the second Cleaner said and they disappeared. The room unfroze and people looked around as if nothing had happened.
Down in the Underworld the Source was fuming. How could his plan have been thwarted? He rounded on the Oracle, glaring viciously at her.
"How could my plan have failed? They weren't supposed to be able to barter with the Cleaners," the Source howled in frustration.
"Well that's what you get for putting your faith and trust in being who tend to lean just a little bit to the side of good," the Oracle commented.
"My next plan will not fail," the Source hissed and flamed out. The Oracle just shook her head.
Back at the Manor the girls were saying goodbye to their guests. It wasn't midnight yet but the kids were getting tired. Silently, Prue led her sisters upstairs to get ready for bed.
"Thanks for not letting my girls get erased," Victor said as he and Leo gathered up the stray paper plates and napkins.
"You were as much a part of it as I was," Leo said with a smile.
"You know, for a whitelighter you're pretty handy to have around," Victor said with a smirk. Leo smiled as he disappeared in orbs. Victor tossed the plates into the garbage and headed upstairs to put his daughters to bed.
"I'm proud of you girls. You did very good tonight," he said, kissing Phoebe and Piper on the forehead. He turned to see Prue standing in the doorway.
"I'm proud of you too," he said, hugging her tightly.
"Happy New Years, girls," he said as the Grandfather clock began to chime midnight.