Dreams, Fears, Spirits

Dreams

It was mid-morning in the mist of Spring time in San Francisco. Everyone in the Halliwell manor was sleeping peacefully.

Melinda and Jim were in the house next door where Dan used to live. Melinda was pregnant and Jim were cuddled together on the couch.

"How are you feeling?" Jim asked.

"Happy." Melinda replied. "We live right next door to my sisters. Andrea has moved here and we're having a baby. What more could I ask for?"

Meanwhile, Phoebe was having a similar dream.

Phoebe walked into a beautiful ranch house with a baby girl on her hip.

"There are the two most beautiful women on the world that I love." Coop said meeting Phoebe at the door and kissing her on the lips then kissing the baby on the forehead.

Phoebe then looked up and noticed Melinda in her dream but it didn't feel like she was apart of it. Melinda looked just as confused as Phoebe.

In Piper's dream she was the chef in her own restaurant. She finally got a break and went out into the diner to meet her family. Her children, Leo, Phoebe, Melinda and Jim were there but so was Prue. It was everything she could ask for. Then she looked and saw another Melinda at the entrance of her restaurant.

In the morning, the sisters and husbands met up in the living room.

"Anyone else have some extremely real feeling good dreams last night?" Melinda asked.

"Yeah and you were in it." Phoebe said.

"What did you dream about?" Melinda asked.

"...A future with Coop." Phoebe replied.

"Oh so that was your dream? I thought I was dreaming about you but it didn't feel like my dream." Melinda said.

"You were in mine too." Piper said. "What's up with that Sandman?"

"I don't know. I was enjoying my own dreams perfectly fine, thank you." Melinda said.

"Well one of Melinda's power is to communicate with spirits from other planes and realms and travel to other planes and realms. Dreams are sort of like another realm and my guess is we're in some type of spiritual shift in the universe where the separation between realms are weak enough that Melinda can cross over into your dreams. " Leo explained.

"What do we even need another whitelighter for? You know everything." Phoebe said.

"You need communication with the elders and someone to heal you if it's needed." Leo said.

"Ok. So why is this weakening of the realms happening now?" Piper asked.

Fears

Tonight's dreams weren't so pleasant for the Halliwells.

Melinda was in her room at the manor with Jim.

"I can't do this anymore." Jim said.

"Do what?" Melinda questioned.

"The witches, the demons, the ghosts, the magic period. I can't handle it. I love you but I can't live with everything that comes with you. I'm leaving."

"No! Jim no. I'll give it all up."

"You can't do that. You can't give up what you do no more than I can give up saving lives. It's just who you are and I don't want to change you but I can't live with it. Goodbye." Jim left with his bags and closed the door behind him.

"No!" Melinda began to cry a river of tears.

In Phoebe's nightmare she was in her sixties in the attic of the manor with a bunch of cats. Other than those cats she was alone. She had no one.

Melinda watched as she wiped the tears from her eyes from her own dream. It hurt her even more to watch Phoebe's fear in action. She started to go over and comfort her but before she had a chance a demon attacked Phoebe. She didn't even have a chance but Phoebe woke up before the fireball hit her and Melinda moved on to Piper's... Nightmare.

Piper was in a panic, going all over the manor calling for Wyatt, DeDe and Chris. She met up with Leo at the end of the attic stairs.

"They're gone!" Piper exclaimed with tears in her eyes. Leo held her as she fell to the floor. "The entire underworld is going to pay for this."

Again, the sisters met in the living room in the morning, not as joyful as they were the morning before.

"Clearly, we all have some inner issues we need to work through." Melinda said.

"Clearly." Phoebe and Piper concurred.

"Whatever is going on is revealing our deepest fears and dreams." Phoebe said.

"Why?" Piper wondered.

"Maybe we need to deal with them.

"Our dreams are to be surrounded by family. Our fear are that we'll lose them." Melinda said.

"What happened your nightmares?" Phoebe asked.

"Everything we did to save Wyatt and the future didn't work. Demons kidnapped all the kids." Piper replied.

"Jim left me because he couldn't handle the magic." Melinda revealed.

"I was old, alone and killed by fireball." Phoebe said.

"How do we find comfort in our dreams and get rid of our fears?" Melinda asked.

Spirits

That night while Melinda was meditating. That was how adult Chris told her she could control her power. She opened her eyes and saw one of her dreams come. Her grandmother, Mary Ann was standing in front of her literally glowing, wearing all white and had the sweetest smile.

"Hello sweetheart." Mary Ann said.

"Grandma? How are you here? You went into the light." Melinda said.

"I'm always here. I'm always with you. You know there is life beyond the light. Some come back and watch over the ones they love. You're special Melinda but you're special for a reason. I was always there to guide you when I was alive. That was my purpose. It's always been my purpose in all of your lives."

"Even when I was Phyre?"

"Well you got away from me that time but Phyre was was a journey your soul had to go through to make you the soul you have become. Phyre was your soul at it's worst and now it's at its best but you also know that we have consequences and karma from each life. Keep that in mind... Spirits like me, we're positive energy. We counteract the negative. Often you and your sisters fight demons, live ones but they have nothing on the ones who aren't. There's a good thing there's more of us than there are of them. However, they're the ones the children have to deal with."

"That doesn't sound good."

"But they're good and they're strong, powerful but that's in future. The children are destined for their own battles-"

"I don't think anyone wants them to go through what we go through." Melinda interrupted.

"They have their own destiny as you and your sisters have yours. Your destiny is important to their destiny. The future has many possibilities but in order for the one your brother-in-law visited to come true you all must succeed in the ultimate battle. Everything you have all gone through has prepared you for the day to come. The prophecy of the Charmed Ones hasn't exactly been accurate. Melinda Warren saw the future but she didn't see it all. No one saw that you were apart of the destiny. They thought you would interfere with what was meant to be but you were always apart of the equation. It just wasn't meant to be foreseen. It won't be what anyone has expected but you must win. You must remember your dreams. Let go of your fears. Demons, dead and alive, they play on your fears. They attract to your fears. They draw on negative energy. You all need clear minds in the battle to come."

"Why have we been having these dreams and nightmares now? Why have I been able to travel into my sisters' dreams now? Why do I get to see you now?"

"Because the universe is preparing you for what's to come. It's destiny."

"When is this battle supposed to take place?"

"I can't tell you that but it's coming. It may be next week, next month, next year but it's coming and you all must be ready. I love you my darling."

"I love you too, grandma." Melinda said before Mary Ann disappeared from her sight.

The sisters and husbands came together the next morning.

"I was visited by my grandmother last night. She's apparently one of many special angels who watch over us, keep us surrounded with positive energy so that the bad doesn't get to us. She told me we have an ultimate battle coming and it won't be what we're expecting but we need to get rid of our fears first. They will hold us back so we need to deal with them." Melinda said.

"What are you girls afraid of?" Leo asked. Piper and Phoebe explained their fears again. Piper found comfort in Leo's words of wisdom. The sisters reassured Phoebe that she would never be alone, they would never leave her. Then Melinda explained her fear to Jim. Jim reassured her that there was nothing in the world that could make him leave her. A life without her was no life at all. They were all able to let go but now they were all left to wonder what was to be expected of the unexpected.

End of season 7. Next up season 8. 3 more chapters left.