Road
Parker was standing on the sidewalk by the street intersecting Bayside Elementary School. She was waiting for the light to turn so she could cross the street; meanwhile she was talking on her cell phone with Logan, her boyfriend of two years.
"So, do you plan on ditching me?" he asked.
"Of course not," Parker said. "I'm on my way now."
"Good. You were actually making me start to worry."
"Oh, please," Parker argued. "You're too arrogant to worry about anything."
"You think so?" Logan asked with a small laugh.
"I know so," Parker said as the light finally changed. She hurriedly started across the street, unaware of a car racing toward the light, exactly where Parker was walking. As the driver stomped on his faulty brakes, he honked the horn in warning. Parker looked to her right and noticed the car, just four or five feet away. Her eyes widened in fear as she halted in the middle of the street. When the car was only about a foot away from her is when it happened.
Suddenly, a giant purple… thing appeared, indented in Parker's direction and bubbling out towards the car. The transparent shield pushed the car backwards several feet, proving is solidity. The shield disappeared, though Parker continued to stare at the space where, only seconds ago, something impossible saved her life.
Parker's attention soon returned to the cell phone in her hand.
"…Parker? Is everything okay?" Logan's voice suddenly registers in Parker's ear.
Is everything okay? Not at all. "Uh… I'm gonna have to call you back," Parker doesn't even wait for a response. She closes her phone, stuffs it in her purse and runs back to the high school parking lot for her car.
Parker's Car
After an unsuccessful attempt to call the house - only getting the machine - Parker punched in the number for her eldest sister's cell phone, praying she would answer it.
"Hello?" Parker sighed in relief as she heard Prue's voice on the other end of the call.
"Hey, Prue."
"Parker?" Prue was confused. Her baby sister rarely called her, especially when she had plans. "I thought you were meeting Logan after school today?"
"Umm…." Will Prue believe I conjured a bubble shield? Hell no. Okay, just keep calm, Parks. "Change of plans. Any chance you know where Phoebe is? She's not at home and I really need to talk to her."
"Yeah, I just got a call from the hospital. She had an accident, fell off her bike." Prue said.
A moment of panic filled Parker's heart. "Which hospital?"
"Bay General, but Parker - " Prue began.
"I'll meet you there." Parker hung up.
Bay General Hospital
Parker and Prue made their way hastily - well, Parker was being hasty, Prue was just trying to keep up - through the hallway of the hospital and to the nurse's station. There was a dark-haired man in front of them, but that wasn't about to stop the mighty force that was Prue Halliwell.
Prue walked right up to the edge of the desk and told the nurse, "Hi, um, we're looking for our sister, Phoebe Halliwell."
"One second, please," the nurse told her, turning to the man in front of the girls. "What's the name again?"
"Inspector Andrew Trudeau. Homicide." the man said. "Dr. Gordon's expecting me."
Parker's jaw dropped in shock. She hadn't seen Andy in years and now she was running into him at the hospital with her sister?
"Andy?" Prue asked in surprise.
"Prue? Parker?" Andy asked, looking at the two girls carefully. Clearly, he hadn't expected to run into them either. "I don't believe it. How are you two?"
"Can't complain," Parker said.
"I'm good. How are you?" The way Prue stared at Andy, it was as if she'd completely forgotten about the sister standing next to her. Just like old times, Parker thought.
"Fine. I just can't believe I'm running into you two," Andy marveled.
It suddenly came back to Prue why she was at the hospital in the first place. "Yeah, we're picking up Phoebe. She had some kind of accident."
Concern immediately clouded Andy's features. "Is she gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, she'll be fine," Prue reassured.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Parked spoke up. "So, what are you doing here, Andy?"
"Murder investigation," he replied gravely. "Uh, the victim was a nurse here."
Before they could lapse into another awkward silence, the nurse returned to her desk. She first old Prue and Parker, "Your sister's still in X-Ray, so it'll be another fifteen minutes." She then turned to Andy and said, "Dr. Gordon's office is to the left and down the hall. He's with a patient right now but you're free to wait outside his office."
All three of them thanked the nurse and started to depart.
"Well, it's good seeing you guys," Andy said, shaking hands with both his old friends.
"Yeah, you too, Andy," Prue said warmly.
"Definitely." Parker added, looking suggestively at her sister and then back at Andy. "Take care."
They started to walk their separate ways, but turned around when suddenly Andy called out, "You know, Phoebe's busy, Dr. Gordon's busy. Can I buy you a bad cup of coffee while we wait?"
"Sure," Prue decided.
"What about you, Parks?" Andy asked.
Parked smiled before answering, "Actually, I'll just go… pretend I have something else to do. Bye." Walking away, she thought, You'll thank me later.
Quake
After giving Prue and Andy time to catch up and checking Phoebe out of the hospital, the three sisters were sitting at the bar in Quake, a nice restaurant in North Beach and Piper's new job - hopefully.
It was there that Phoebe spilled the beans to Prue and Parker about being the Charmed Ones, about Melinda Warren and her prophecy, and about their new superpowers. And apparently, Phoebe's superpower was that she could see the future; that was how she hurt herself while riding her bike, after saving some boys she'd "seen" getting hurt.
Prue, of course, was skeptical. "The Chosen Ones? The Charmed Ones? Phoebe, this is insane."
"I don't know, Prue," Parker said. As weird as it sounded, she didn't think this was a crazy idea. In fact, she felt, deep in her bones, that Phoebe was telling the truth. "Phoebe's story kind of makes sense to me."
"Really?" Phoebe asked, sounding surprised but hopeful one of her sisters would side with her.
"Yeah. I mean, take what happened today." Parker took a deep breath as she prepared to tell the story of why she had needed to talk to Phoebe earlier today. "This afternoon I was crossing to street to walk the three blocks to Logan's place after school. When the light changed, I started to cross the road when all of a sudden, this car comes out of nowhere, headed straight at me."
Prue immediately into what Parker called Big Sister Syndrome - widened, worried eyes? Check. Hand on the shoulder, squeezing comfortingly? Check. Expression of concern and confirmation of well-being? Wait for it…
"Why didn't you tell me? Are you okay?" And check.
"I'm fine," Parker brushed it off. "Before the car could hit me, this… purple bubble thingy formed in front of me. How else do you explain that, other than that I'm a witch with magical powers?" Having finally said it out loud, Parker took a moment to let it soak in. She was a witch. A witch who could do magic. And it didn't freak her out a bit. "It's actually pretty cool."
Phoebe smiled. Now it was two against one. She turned to Prue and asked, "Are you telling me that nothing strange happened to you today? You didn't freeze time of move anything?"
Prue tried to stay calm, but this was getting insane. "Roger took an exhibit away from me. All right, look, Phoebe. I know that you think you can see the future, which is pretty ironic."
"Here we go," Parker said, taking a slug of the beer in front of her.
"Since you don't think I have one? That my vision of life is cloudy compared to your perfect hell?" Phoebe's voice took on a sad, tired tone. "Even if you don't want to believe me, just once can't you trust me? Or Parker, even?"
Swallowing her anger, Prue looked at her sisters dead on and said, "Phoebe, Parker, I do not have special powers. Now, where is the cream?"
With those words, the bottle of cream slid across the countertop of its own will and filled Prue's coffee cup. All three girls were staring at the scene before them differently: Prue in shock, Phoebe in triumph, and Parker in awe.
Phoebe smirked smugly at Prue. "Really? That looked pretty special to me."
"I repeat," Parker said. "Cool."
Prue struggled to form a sentence. "Oh, my God. So, um. I can move things with my mind?"
"With how much you hold inside you should be a lethal weapon by now," Phoebe said.
She's got a point, Parker thought. Based on what happened with her "shield" she guessed these powers are instinctual and based in emotions. If that was the case, Prue, who pushed her more unpleasant feelings down for the past several years, might have some trouble with her newfound abilities.
"I don't believe it," Prue said, staring blankly at the cream and her coffee cup.
"This must mean that Piper can freeze time," Phoebe inferred.
Prue grabbed the shot of tequila sitting on the bar and downed it.
Parker's eyes widened at the sight; her big sister wasn't much of a drinker.
Clearly Phoebe was worried also. "Are you okay?" she asked gently.
"No, I'm not okay," Prue snapped. "You turned me into a witch."
Parker smiled at Prue sympathetically, she knew this was a big shock. She pulled one of Prue's hands between both of hers and spoke softly. "Well, technically, you were born one. We all were."
"And I think we better start to deal with it," Phoebe added.
Pharmacy
After the girls were finished with their drinks and life-altering revelations, they left the restaurant. During their walk along the street, Phoebe told them some more about her readings from the Book of Shadows. Lovely things like paintings of monsters in the book, good versus evil, the Wiccan Rede of "An it harm none, do what ye will," and how warlocks were evil witches and wanted to kill witches for their powers. All that fun stuff.
After that uplifting talk, the girls made their way to a nearby pharmacy, as the hospital had prescribed Phoebe some pain medication due to her accident.
The pharmacist turned to go and fill the prescription after answering Prue's question of where to find aspirin.
As Prue made her way down aisle three, Phoebe followed after her, saying, "Chamomile tea works great for headaches."
"Not for this one it won't," Prue insisted.
The three wandered up the aisle, as Prue scanned the shelves.
"You know, I'm not afraid of our powers," Phoebe's voice was casual. "I mean, everyone inherits something from their family right?"
"Yeah, money, antiques, a strong disposition. That's what normal people inherit." Prue's voice was steadily rising with each word.
Parker let out a short chuckle. "Since when have we ever been normal?" Please just leave it at that, Phoebe.
Phoebe did not leave it at that. "And who wants to be normal when we can be special?"
"I want to be normal," Prue exploded. "I want my life to be - you know, isn't this aisle three?"
Phoebe remained calm despite Prue's rising anger. "Well, we can't change what happened. We can't undo our destiny."
"Do you see any aspirin?" Prue asked, trying to change the conversation before she exploded.
"I see chamomile tea," Phoebe said pointedly.
Parker's Sister Spats Senses were tingling. She backed up a few feet, trying to get out of the impending disaster area.
Prue was in full-on pissy mode now. She fixed her sharp stare on Phoebe, making Parker recoil. "Look. I have just found out that I'm a witch, that my sisters are witches, and that we have powers that will apparently unleash all forms of evil. Evil that is apparently going to come looking for us. So excuse me, Phoebe, but I'm not exactly in a homeopathic mood right now."
"Then move your headache out of your mind," Phoebe said.
Prue's glare intensified just as a bottle of aspirin flew off the shelf at Prue, who caught it just in time.
A lightbulb lit up in Phoebe's head. "You move things when you're upset," she realized.
"Ya think?" Parked asked.
Prue was beyond exasperated. "This is ridiculous! I thought you landed on your arm, not your head."
"You don't believe me," Phoebe stated.
"Of course I don't believe you," Prue yelled.
"Roger," Phoebe taunted in a sing-song voice.
More bottles of medicine fell off the shelves, causing Parker to jump.
Prue dropped to the floor and started to pick up some of the bottles.
"Now let's talk about Dad and see what happens," Phoebe said.
Parker's eyes widened; she couldn't go there. "Phoebe, stop," she said sharply.
Prue looked up at Phoebe and simply stated, "He's dead, Phoebe."
"No, he's moved from New York, but he's very much alive," Phoebe told her.
Prue stood up and said, "He isn't to me. He died the day he left Mom."
"What are you talking about?" Phoebe asked, her voice light and teasing. "He's always been a major button pusher for you. You're mad he's alive, you're mad I tried to find him, and you're mad I came back. Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad."
Every bottle of medication in the aisle flew off their shelves and landed on the floor with a loud crash.
Parker yelped and threw her hands over her head.
All the girls looked at the bottle-covered floor in shock.
"Feel better?" Phoebe asked Prue, the malice completely out of her voice.
"Lots," Prue answered.
"The Book of Shadows said our powers would grow," Phoebe reflected.
"Grow to what?" Prue asked.
Now that the situation was diffused, Parker spoke up. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking - Vegas. We'd totally clean up."
Prue, Phoebe and Parker burst into laughter that wasn't going to end anytime soon.