Charmed character(s) - Prue,

Season - After Andy died

Smallville Characters - Clark, Chloe, (probably) Lana

Season - After Chloe finds out Clark's secret

Disclaimer - I own nothing

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Unexpected Allies Part 2

When she walked into the busiest shop in town, she hadn't expected...this.

Some local coffee place, bustling like these vendors were selling golden coffee. Hadn't these people heard of Starbucks?

Though she had chosen it for it's amount of people, hoping to deduce helpful hints about her surroundings – or, better yet, question someone about the town – it turned out to be really crowded.

Okay, it was whatever the small town equivalent to 'really crowded' was.

From over the counter, a dark haired woman pushed a tall, regular, half-milk-no-sugar coffee to her with a frantic smile and no less than a,

"Here you go, thank you!"

Prue took it and stared after the girl. Honestly, she'd prepared her best, most charming smile and had the top ten least-likely-to-cause-panic questions at the ready – now she didn't get to use them.

It seemed that the people at 'The Talon' had no time to give her the information she needed.

When it became clear that they were not coming back (and she was holding up the line), she and her coffee settled into a booth in the corner.

Okay, I need a new plan. She thought as she pulled out her cell phone. Of course she wasn't going to call anybody on it, since her sisters couldn't help, and she didn't know anybody's number in town, but it made her look less suspicious.

Huh. No cell reception – she must really be far out there.

Idly, she flipped through her contacts, thinking through all the possibilities.

To learn more about her surroundings, she could try another shop or find a library – small town libraries always had little 'Our Town History' pictures up, explaining about a bunch of farms no one really cared about.

She took a sip and smacked her lips, contemplating the taste.

Should she even try to locate the secretive boy she'd seen last time?

Prue was aware of how unlikely it was that, even if he lived here – even if he still lived here – time could run differently, or this place could have different rules.

The boy could be dead and gone. He could be some old man, somewhere, napping. Heck, he could've even traveled over and gotten lost in her world, if she could make it to his so easily.

And, she thought with the beginnings of anger rising in her cheeks, he wasn't exactly helpful last time. What would change about this time?

No, she decided, slamming more than setting her coffee back down. No, she wouldn't bother with that boy at all.

But...that was before she heard the small ping! Of the bell on the door ringing, signaling someone's entrance. And she looked up.

It was as though this was the universe's lame and belated attempt to make things up to her. Actually, maybe the Powers That Be really had a sense of humor and were simply mocking her.

He – that boy, that same boy that she had (accidentally) set a banshee loose on – was walking into this coffee shop with a smile on his face.

It was a stiff smile, warm but unused, and the stiffness carried to the very way he walked. Was he always so tall and muscled? She wondered, blinking.

That thought was completely detached, even though usually she would be fanning herself or staring at his butt – and she wasn't for two reasons.

One, she was like ten years older than him. Or had been, last time. And that was gross.

And two...the very thought of being attracted to someone else nauseated her. After Andy...she didn't think she was capable of that sort of relationship again. Ever.

His death was still a raw, gushing wound in her chest, and she was still too full of rage to think far outside of demons and 'somewhat morally okay' revenge.

Nevertheless...he was here; he could help.

Prue took another sip of her coffee, a controlled, careful one this time, and eyed the blond he had with him.

A small, petite woman, made smaller and more petite by standing next to Mr. Supernatural Hulk,she had a bob of hair pinned back and clothes that were more fashionable (and less showy) than even Prue's.

She was very pretty, in a young way, but that all stopped when her gaze met Prue's subtle one. The blond had a fierce, piercing glare that seemed to dig into one's soul and pull out all their secrets – Prue suspected, turning away, that she wasn't natural either.

Now last time, he hadn't understood when she talked about witches. It was possible that, in this place, witches didn't exist, or were different than she was used to. Possible. Probable, too.

So...she wasn't sure where that put him or blondie. Witches, demons, superpowered aliens...

All she did know was that he had been trying to help last time – and that kinda had to do.

As they went to the counter to be met with a large smile from the dark-haired woman (definitely more friendly than the one she'd given Prue), she heard blondie murmur,

"–know that woman, Clark? 'Cause she's been staring at you since we walked in."

The boy – 'Clark', she supposed – glanced at her. She met his gaze and sent back what she supposed passed for a decent smile. It lacked something (sympathy, humanity, emotion...) yet she tightened her lips anyway.

When his eyes finally widened, she knew he remembered. This...was not an encouraging notion. There was a panic hidden in his baby blues that was growing by the minute, promising his retreat if she let him. So she stood up, waving enthusiastically at him.

"Clark! Over here!" She called loudly, gaining the attention of quite a few customers. They stared at her and Clark, and the distance between them.

She waved harder.

A few seconds later...he walked towards her very reluctantly, trailed by his companion. Prue didn't like the way the girl's eyes sharpened onto her face and her clothes and her expression – she felt like she was being scanned, as though she were a dubious webpage.

"Thanks for coming over. We need to talk." The witch gestured at the booth opposite her and they sat down obediently – if not quickly.

"You..." Clark, it seemed, didn't know where to begin. "You, you –"

"Prue, actually." She corrected, feeling a smirk coming on. Oh, no, that wasn't good – dial it down, Prue. We don't want to scare these people, remember? One of her inner voices said soothingly. It would've worked too, had it not been for the fact that that voice sounded like Phoebe.

Coughing, Prue straightened her face into a gentler look. It was impossible to say if it worked.

"I'm Prue Halliwell." She began again. "And I hear your name is Clark. Would've been nice to hear it from you, last time we met, but bygones and all that..."

The Charmed One let out a embarrassed cough, pressing her hands together in front of her.

"And, um, before I get started, I'd just like to say – sorry. Erm, about the banshee."

The last word jerked the blond to attention, her head snapping around to give the witch the snarkiest, yet most curious single-eyebrow raise ever seen.

"Wait a minute. 'Banshee'? Seriously?!"

"So what do you want?" Clark inquired, all but ignoring his friend's question. He shot her a look that said not now and didn't watch the irritation cloud her face.

Prue did and tucked it in the back of her mind, yet moved her gaze back to the guy's face and reminded herself to stay on topic.

"Um, well, an introduction would be nice." She suggested. With her gesture at the blond, he tightened his jaw, despite the fact that little Miss Blondie was already opening her mouth to oblige.

"You don't need to know her name." He bristled. The girl shut up.

The Halliwell blinked at him in surprise.

"Oh-kaaayyy. I guess I don't. I just thought, since I gave you mine, it would only be polite..."

She observed his hardening look.

"Nevermind then. Right, so you know I'm not a normal person."

"We established that last time."

"Right." She nodded. "But I think it's also fair to say I'm not of this world. At least, I don't think so."

At his look, she continued,

"See, I'm from California, from the Bay Bridge area, and I didn't drive here. In fact, I didn't leave my city's limits to be here. I walked through some sort of...portal, thingy, and poof! Here I am."

The woman let this sink in for a moment, and sipped her coffee with a satisfyed 'ahh!'.

"Now it's easy enough to get back. Just walk back through the portal – I figured that out last time I visited here. But, after I got home I looked up Smallville. And you know what? There is no such town."

At their startled expressions and moves to protest, and realizing she wasn't being specific enough, she rolled her eyes.

"Well, no town named 'Smallville' in California."

They stared at her, long and tough and with something horribly close to disbelief clinging to their features.

"In concluding, that why I believe I'm...from a different...world..." She trailed off.

Now, a terrible thought occurred to her, a terrifying and slightly frustrating proposition that had too much logic not to be dealt with – what if they were normal. What if the pair were normal people (albeit, they were living in a abnormal town) and they were about to declare her crazy and walk away?

Prue didn't want to be called crazy. She didn't want to be moved on from. She hated the fact that she'd come here, hated that she wasn't going to be able to leave until she 'fixed' things, or at least figured them out.

Most of all, with Andy always lingering in her heart, ghost as he was, Prue didn't want to be alone.

Perhaps some of this loneliness showed on her face and made her come off less psychotic-crazy-lady and more lonely-but-harmless-lady. At the very least, she wasn't insane.

"Hey, I know I sound crazy. I'm just a witch from San Fransisco – a good witch, really, really good," She hastened to include at the tightening of the blond's knuckles. "But there's something in your town that is unexplainable, something that could hurt people. I just want to help."

"Why should we believe you?" The female queried. Prue noted the tilted head, the raised chin, the light in her eyes. This was curiosity at a dangerous yet delightful level, an eagerness that might work in her favor.

"Don't." She grinned. "Let me show you the portal, then decide for yourselves."

The couple shared a look, Clark's gaze clouded with fear and reluctantness and a secretiveness that covered it all – his companion's look was, comparatively, much simpler. There was interest with overlaying worry, but most of all a trust. Prue knew that if Clark shook his head, his friend would probably be angry yet compliant. But...if she wanted to believe the Charmed One, perhaps Clark would tag along.

Finally, done arguing as best they could without words, they turned back to her.

"Let's say this is true." Clark said.

Well, that sure is assuming a lot. She thought sarcastically.

"Why would you try to explain all this to us?"
"One, you're the only person I know here. And you just happened to walk through the door." She pointed out. "And two, I seem to remember you doing some pretty spectacular things the last time I saw you. That and then denying them, of course."

The short female covered a snicker, and that flash of nervousness passed over his face again.

"Oh, don't worry – I didn't tell anyone. I don't particularly care, actually – I just think you can help me."

Giving each of them a glance, searching and waiting, she tried her dashing smile again.

"So? Whattya say?"

A/N: Meh. I don't really like this one, but this is the second time I re-wrote it. It will have to do.

I feel like the majority of these one-shots are about Supernatural, and that's not really the reason I started this fic - but I'm having trouble coming up with any other ideas.

Any suggestions? No? Okay. See you next time.

:)

Kokoro