The Future

"Where's Mum?" Demanded Philippa as she burst, uninvited, into Darryl's office closely followed by her twin sister. It had been almost a week in their time since Chris and Paige had left, but Morris had promised them that he would tell no one of where they had gone unless they were away for so long that he doubted if they would return.

His promise had not been easy to keep, however, due to the steady stream of resistance members, filing in each day, demanding an audience with their leader. The generally accepted story was that Paige was on a top secret and important mission whilst Chris had had to return to his brothers side before he was missed. Whilst this had been understood by the majority of members, Philippa and Penelope would not be satisfied until they knew exactly what their mother was doing.

"I've already told you she's on a..." He began tiredly, not looking up from the papers spread across his large desk.

"Top secret mission which we aren't allowed to know anything about." Finished Philippa mockingly, "blah blah blah we know, but she's been gone almost a week now and still no one's heard from her. How do you know she hasn't been captured or killed... or need our help?" She questioned desperately- the fear for her last remaining parent evident in her voice.

Darryl looked up at her sympathetically. He knew the cousins had had it worse than most of the other resistance members. Not only had Piper, Phoebe and Coop been killed, but Leo had abandoned them, Chris risked his life everyday by spying on Wyatt, and they had to spend most of the time in the base as their eldest cousin was ruthlessly hunting them. He wished he could comfort the twins, assure them that it would be okay- that their mother was probably safer than most of them as she would be protected by both Chris and most probably the power of three. But he couldn't. He had promised that he wouldn't and he had no intention of letting Chris down. Chris had saved him and his family when Wyatt had originally come to power and Darryl knew that he would be forever indebted to him for that.

"Don't you think that if the last remaining Charmed one had been caught or killed that we might have heard something." He pointed out gently, removing his reading glasses and rubbing sleep from his eyes. Pip thought about that for a second, frowning, then opened her mouth to issue another protest, which Darryl quickly cut off, "And trust me when I say she will have more than enough help where she is." He continued. Pip frowned at this cryptic clue, but before she could enquire further there came a voice from behind.

"Because they're in the past you mean?" Questioned Penelope, who was holding her fist in the air as if triumphantly clutching the vital clue. Pip looked triumphant and Darryl defeated, just as the astral projection of Penelope disappeared and the real version burst in through the office door, proudly displaying the copy of the book of shadows which was still open on the time travel page.

Darryl hated the twins powers. It was bad enough that the girls were identical, without them being able to duplicate themselves as well. Pip must have just been the distraction as Penny broke into Paige's office- she had sent her astral self so as he wouldn't wonder why only one twin had come for the daily interrogation.

Both of the girls looked expectantly at the ex-cop who rolled his eyes, knowing there was no point in hiding the truth from them any longer. He sat them both down and explained everything- from Wyatt being summoned, to Paige and Chris tracking him down. By the end of his tail, the twins were looking horrified.

"So you let them hunt down the most powerful dark witch in the world on their own?" Exclaimed Penny, thinking of how her dad had suffered at the hands of her tyrannical cousin years earlier and how her mum now seemed likely to share that fate. "They'll have no back up or allies in that time, while he possesses the powers of the source and so can call up a demon following no matter what time period he's in." She continued, becoming more and more hysterical as she thought about how hopeless their chances would be, even if the Charmed ones believed them.

Darryl walked over to the shaking girl, placing one hand around her shoulder, as with the other he carefully prised the book of shadows from her grip- knowing he needed to get the time travel spell as far out of the cousins reach as possible. Then, quite suddenly, Pip's astral self disappeared too and Darryl sighed. He could guess where Philippa was. She would be with the other cousins, recanting everything he had just told her. Sighing deeply at how troublesome Halliwells could be, whilst at the same time thanking God that he only had to raise two non magical sons, he gently lead the now snivelling Penelope out of the office, and began walking in the direction of the Halliwell living quarters.

"We have to go and help them!" Declared Prue, the moment Darryl and Penny got through the door. By now Penny had mostly calmed down and she was shaking her head in agreement along with Henry Jr and Pip. Darryl however ignored his determined God children- looking past them to where his eldest son was standing frozen in the corner. Darryl groaned.

"Why is Mikey frozen?" He asked, although he could guess the answer. Darryl had asked him to keep an eye on the cousins whilst Darryl was working so as they wouldn't sneak off or start scheming.

"He kept telling us to leave you alone and trust that Paige was okay." Shrugged Prue, who gestured with her hands, releasing the older boy.

"...wave your arms and everything will be..." He cut off from his earlier lecture as he took in everyone's changed positions and the sudden arrival of his father. Groaning in the exact way Darryl had just a few seconds earlier he rubbed his forehead. "You froze me again, didn't you." he moaned. Prue shrugged again, apparently not sorry for her actions.

"Where's Parker and Payson?" Enquired Darryl, trying to keep the conversation as far away from Paige and Chris as possible.

"Oh, errr, in Payson's room, I think." Replied Mikey, although he was uncertain given how long he must have been frozen for. "Darryl (Junior) was working with them to plan Payson's birthday party. Apparently she want to invite half of the resistance so the other two are negotiating the exact details with her." Darryl nodded- knowing how excited Payson got about her birthday, and hating the fact that such a young girl had had to spend the majority of her life hidden underground, celebrating her birthday with adults instead of friends.

"Like that matters." Interrupted Prue rudely, "all that matters is that we find a way to help Aunt Paige and Chris!" Behind her, Mikey was looking slightly confused at the news that the two resistance leaders, and his friends, were in need of help, but he refrained from asking for more information as it looked like Prue would probably blow up the next person who drew the attention away from a plan to save them.

"I'm telling you they don't need help." Insisted Darryl. "They know what they are doing and they'll have the past sisters to help them. If you were to turn up now, all that would mean was they had to protect you, and that you would be making it way to easy for Wyatt to get his hands on you." He insisted, knowing not only Chris and Paige, but also his wife, Sheila, would kill him if he were to ever let any of the cousins get involved in this.

"We can't just do nothing." Stated Henry, stepping forwards from behind Prue, "Mum is way to important to everything to fail now and Chris... Chris started all this. He saved the lives of everyone in this room and started the resistance. It's not like he wouldn't do everything in his power to help us if the roles were reversed." He pointed out to the agreement of not just the cousins but Mikey as well.

"I'm sure he would." Agreed Darryl carefully. "But unless you're going to tell me one of your powers is time travel, I'm afraid you'll have to find a way of helping them which does not involve leaving this base." He told them firmly, holding up the book of shadows as if to emphasise his point.

At that moment, a junior resistance member knocked on the door, requesting to speak with Darryl urgently, he followed the young girl out, but was careful to give strict instructions that they were not to leave the room until he got back.

They waited for about five minutes when they heard a sudden disruption outside. Mikey hurried to the door, followed closely by the others, just as Darryl Junior, Payson and Parker emerged from Payson's bedroom. Outsides they heard cries of alarm and many footsteps all heading for th same place.

Quickly they all left, wanting to find out what was going on, Darryl's orders completely forgotten. Eventually the crowd stopped at the main entrance, there were several people there and the group had to push forcefully to worm their way to the front. When they finally had a view of the events, what was happening became immediately clear. Darryl, and a number of other senior resistance leaders were all surrounding a demon girl who was trapped inside a crystal cage. She was insisting that she didn't work for Wyatt, and was holding up a small silver key, which they all recognised as the key to the headquarters, which could get you in even if you weren't supposed to. There was only one person that had one, so as he would be able to get in and out even when there was an emergency lock down- so how did this girl have it. They all heard her mention Chris' name when suddenly Parker gave a small giggle as she realised who the intruder was.

"That's Chris' girlfriend." She informed them through her mirth.


The Past/ present day in terms of the story

"Paige wait!" Cried Phoebe as she hurried after the rapidly disappearing form of the younger woman. Paige made no attempt to acknowledge the plea and even seemed to increase her pace. Phoebe sighed, before quickly scanning the deserted street- checking for passing witnesses and nosey neighbours. As it was nearing midnight all the curtains in the houses were drawn and there was no sign of anyone else around.

Phoebe suddenly leapt into the air, levitating several feet off the ground as she sped towards the fleeing Paige, catching up with her in just a few seconds as she landed besides the amazed woman.

"You really weren't joking about the whole magic thing huh?" She croaked, staring with a mixture of awe and terror at the woman before her. Phoebe smiled at her sympathetically, remembering the reaction of her sisters when they had first discovered witchcraft existed.

"What did you mean you couldn't believe you ever believed you were related to us?" She asked hurriedly, trying to snap the amazed girl out of her trance. She just shrugged and shook her head. Ever since she had discovered they were witches, Paige had firmly shoved the idea of being a Halliwell from her mind. No matter how much she wanted to find her family, she knew she could never be what they were.

"Oh that... that was nothing." She said airily, trying to wipe any suspicion from the witches mind, now wanting to escape more than ever. "There was a time when I thought I had found some evidence that we were related but... but more recently I've come to know that that can't be the case." She gave a small, fake, laugh, trying to make Phoebe think it laughable that they could be related. Phoebe however was still deep in thought and only spoke again as Paige began to move away again.

"Since just now, you mean?" She asked coolly, not moving in persecute of the woman this time. "Since you found out our secret?"

Paige didn't respond right away. Phoebe was right- that was the main reason she forced herself to walk away from the Halliwells, despite all the evidence pointed to them being her sisters. She bowed her head slightly, fearing what terrible retribution the witch could impose on her at this slight. She took a breath,

"I swear your secret is safe with me." She promised, before turning around and staring straight into Phoebe's eyes, her conviction in her words removing all fear. "But I am no witch."


"I'm telling you this is pointless." Insisted Wyatt for the thousandth time as he followed his aunt along yet another back street ally.

Prue had been regretting throwing out Paige since not long after she had uttered her cruel words. At the time she had just wanted the woman out of her house- angered by her insistence of her Nephews wrong doings, and pained by the thought of one day abandoning her sisters. Later, however, she realised the dangers of letting those potentially dangerous strangers loose out of their own time- who knows what damage they could cause the time lines.

She and Wyatt had been out all day, trying to track them down again- although Wyatt wasn't really helping. Although he was also concerned about what Paige might be up to- with her perpetual determination to destroy even his best laid plans, he couldn't risk letting her any where near the sisters. He had to trust that Chris would keep his promise to keep Paige away, and in the meantime prevent Pure from hunting for Paige.

Prue ignored him however, as she had done for most of the day. She continued her fast paced march as she relentlessly hunted for them. Before she could get much further however, suddenly three demons appeared in front of them. The largest, who was probably the leader of these fierce and muscular attackers turned to Wyatt, who promptly raised his arms waiting for the attack. The demon however made no attempt to injure him. Instead it placed its large fist against his chest and made a small movement which Wyatt assumed was an attempt at a bow.

"My l..." It grunted, but Wyatt quickly cut him off with a wave of his arm, which effortlessly vanquished not only the leader, but also his two henchmen as well. Prue watched the whole event, a curious look on her face.

"What was that?" She asked, referring to the reverence the demon had shown Wyatt. Her nephew just shrugged however.

"I have the ability to send this wave of heat from my hands." He explained avoiding the actual question, "I think I started doing it when I was five and wanted hot milk." He continued with a small smile as he remembered old, more innocent, times.

"That's not what I..." she began but Wyatt had already started moving off at a faster pace, forcing her to stop talking and practically run to keep up with his long strides.

"Maybe we should go and get mum and aunt Phoebe." He suggested innocently, wanting to get out of the open as soon as possible. It seemed that demons had felt the arrival of his power in this time, and several of those who had been put aside by the source, were coming to him in the hope of joining his army. As such, streams of demons had been attacking them all day, and while he had been explaining it away as the source probably returning to strength and the demons wanting to kill the charmed ones to prove their loyalty, it was becoming more and more difficult to get his aunt to believe him when the demons made no effort to attack. "I mean all these demons attacks must mean something, what if they're in danger as well?" Prue considered his suggestion for a second, then remembered the vast quantity of demons that had attacked at the manor the previous night and thought her nephew may have a point.

"Okay, we should go back to the manor any way, there is no way we can find your friends this way." Se agreed, gripping hold of her nephews arm so he could orb them both back to the attic. "Right." started Prue the moment they reformed, as she went back over to the map and skrying crystal she had abandoned earlier. "You go and check on my sisters and Leo, while I have another go at trying to skry for Paige and Chris." She instructed. Wyatt inwardly groaned at his aunts refusal at giving up her hunt for his aunt and brother, but said nothing knowing that without something personal of theirs to skry for or any knowledge of their true identity she would be unlikely to find them anyway. "I figure if I skry for things out of their time I should be able to find something." She added just as he orbed out.

'Damn' he thought to himself, 'that might just work'. At that moment however he reappeared in the sun room and immediately took in the scene of his Aunt Phoebe talking to a much younger Paige. He heard the description of the waitress who had inadvertently left and he had no doubt in his mind of who that was. "Paige" He spat menacingly, making both the woman spin around with shock. Not wanting to have to explain himself however he muttered an apologetic "I have to go" and then orbed away to truly track down his interfering aunt.