A/N: Hey, better late than never, right? As I have said before, so terribly sorry for the long wait. I don't really have anything to say except that this second semester of school is already getting the best of me.

Tons of thank you's to those of you who have reviewed. A quick note to Another Phoebe: Yes, Phoebe did leave it at the penthouse. That was an error on my part, not yours. Glad you caught the mistake though!

Anyway, on with the story! Hope you all like!

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Piper's mouth hung open in shock. This was the last person she'd expected to summon. Not that her mother hadn't shown up unannounced before; the last time she'd seen her was when Phoebe first disappeared in the Underworld and she told Prue and Piper about Paige's existence.

Patty stood inside the circle, transparent, in the long beige dress she always wore when she came to visit them. The expression on her face was one of sympathy, and Piper wasn't sure whether she liked or hated it. But it wasn't until she saw her mother standing before her that she realized just how much she'd wanted her comfort.

"How are you doing, sweetie?" Patty asked in the exact same voice she had used when Piper was a young child.

Piper laughed unbelievingly. "How am I doing? Where do I begin?"

"I know how hard this has been on you girls. It pains me to see you all so...depressed. Helpless. You don't know which way to turn. That's why I'm here. I'm here to help you," Patty explained as she stepped outside the circle. Her body immediately became corporeal and she walked over to Piper and embraced her in a long awaited hug.

Piper returned it, never wanting to let go. At the moment it didn't matter that she was a grown up married woman. Right now she needed her mother.

Mother and daughter remained like that for some time, reluctant to be the first to let go. They each took comfort in the other's presence, gaining strength from one another. Piper felt the tears fall down her cheeks, but she did her best to hide the fact that she was crying from her mother, even though she knew it was no big secret. Patty stroked Piper's hair, rocking her back and forth. Piper was suddenly glad she'd done the summoning, and that it hadn't been Grams who came. She loved Grams and liked it when she came, but Grams could never sooth Piper quite like Patty could.

Finally Patty let go and stood to her full height. She took Piper's hands and said, "Let's go talk to Prue and Paige. I understand they both are..." she paused, searching for the right word. "A bit out of sorts."

Piper smiled knowingly. "You could say that."

She led her mother out of the attic, curious as to what Prue's and Paige's reactions would be upon seeing Patty walk casually through the house. A twinge of excitement ran through her suddenly, and she imagined that her mother felt the same way.

Sounds were coming from the kitchen, so Piper figured Paige had come downstairs to prepare dinner. But she wasn't the one who needed to have this particular conversation. At least, not yet.

"Where is she?" Patty asked quietly from behind Piper.

"In the living room," Piper answered, walking as silently as she could, not wanting to alert Prue to what was coming. She wasn't sure how her older sister was going to take this surprise.

When they reached the entrance to the living room Piper stopped and motioned for her mother to do the same. "I think it's best that we give her some warning. I'm not exactly sure how she'd react to seeing you walk casually into a room."

Patty smiled knowingly. "I understand. I'll wait for you."

Piper nodded and took a deep breath before re-entering the living room.

Prue was still there, curled up in the armchair, her attention fixed on the TV. It was now tuned to a game show. She didn't look up as Piper came in.

"Prue?"

"Yeah?"

Prue still hadn't turned to look at Piper, which was irritating. Couldn't she at least look at her? How captivating could a game show possibly be?

Well, better just to get to the point, Piper thought to herself. "Prue, what are we doing?"

Prue frowned and finally looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Are we just going to keep sitting around doing nothing, or are we going to start coming up with a plan?"

Prue sighed and looked as though she regretted asking the question. "I don't know, Piper. You tell me."

Piper resisted the urge to slap her sister. This wasn't starting well. "Well, I know that us sitting around isn't helping Phoebe any."

"Last time I checked, Piper, Phoebe didn't want to be saved. And it isn't our job to force anybody to change," Prue retorted.

"No, but it is our job to help people and, like it or not, Phoebe needs help. And since you, Paige, and I don't have a clue as to how to do it, I've brought someone who can," Piper said, bracing herself for the Prue's reaction.

Prue frowned at this, a mixture of irritation and curiosity crossing her features. "Who?"

Piper turned around and at that moment Patty stepped into the room, looking as though she were floating instead of walking. Who knows, maybe she was. Did corporeal ghosts have legs?

Piper watched as Prue and Patty looked at each other. Prue looked surprised and about ready to burst into tears. Patty was smiling and held out her arms, waiting for Prue to stand up and hug her.

Prue did just that. She collapsed into her mother's arms and Piper watched them embrace. Patty stroked Prue's long black hair the same way she had with Piper.

"What are you doing here?" Prue asked once they let go a few seconds later. Piper could've sworn she saw her hastily wipe a tear away from her eye.

Patty didn't answer right away. She took one of Prue's and Piper's arms and led them to the sofa. She sat down in the middle and they sat on either side of her. When they were seated she answered. "I've come to help you." She turned to Prue. "I've been watching. I know you're all out of ideas and you feel like giving up. It's completely understandable, of course...but not what you should be doing."

Piper looked at Prue, trying to gauge her sister's reaction to that. Prue had never been one to take criticism, no matter how helpful it was and who was the one giving it. She always felt the need to defend herself and never stopped until she proved-or at least thought she proved-that she was right. And now was no different. Prue's face contorted into a grimace and she stared at her mother defiantly.

"Well, since you've been watching, you know that everything we've tried hasn't worked. Every possible obstacle has been thrown our way and I don't know what else to do. Phoebe let us believe that maybe we could all come to some kind of truce, but just happens to forget to mention that she and Cole," she spat the word out as though it were toxic, "were going to move back to the Underworld! We're not any closer to getting her back than we were when we first found out she was staying down there!"

Patty was silent for a minute. Something about her expression told Piper that her mother already knew all this. Prue and Piper waited for Patty to say something and watched her in fervent concentration. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully.

"I know it feels that way. But think of all the progress you all have made," Patty finally said, sitting down on the sofa.

At this Prue scoffed. Piper winced. She could already sense the full blown argument building up inside her older sister. Piper only wished she knew of some way to stop it. "The only progress any of us has made is succeed in pushing Phoebe even further away. There's no way we can ever reach her with her down in the Underworld."

Patty smiled sadly and shook her head. "Yes, there is. It may not seem like it, but all of you have made enormous progress, including Phoebe."

"How?" Prue and Piper asked together. Piper was interested to see how her mother had reached this conclusion.

"Well," Patty began, looking as though she were preparing herself for a long speech. She turned to Piper. "You and Phoebe met not too long ago and began rebuilding your relationship. And you," she said, turning to face Prue. "You were going to go with them and have lunch with Phoebe. It's not your fault that she wasn't there to meet you." She paused and for a moment Piper thought she was going to cry. "It's important for you to realize that this isn't Phoebe's fault either."

Piper braced herself for another attack from Prue. It was just the way she reacted when she felt helpless. But Prue's voice when she did speak wasn't as harsh as she'd expected it to be.

"But it feels that way, Mom," she said, her voice breaking slightly at the last word. But she collected herself. "It just doesn't make any sense for Phoebe to willingly go with Cole back down to the Underworld if she wanted to come to some sort of understanding with us."

Piper couldn't ever remember Prue sounding so defeated. Patty must've been thinking the same because she gazed down at her, a mixture of sympathy and anguish crossing her features. "I know it doesn't. Which is why I'm here. Although in the beginning your grandmother and I decided to stay out of it and let you girls handle this on your own, we believe the time has come for us to intervene. We don't like the idea of Phoebe being down there with the Source any more than you do and, quite frankly, we don't think this is Phoebe's decision. Something much more sinister is at work here, and the Source must be sensing it, otherwise he never would have moved her down there again. The whole point of her staying in the Underworld the first time was to keep her away from danger. Now it seems as though she's being led straight toward it. Whether she likes it or not, we are going to rescue her."

Prue and Piper exchanged quick looks of surprise. This wasn't they'd been expecting, although Piper was pleasantly surprised. With Mom and Grams on their side, how could they lose?

The threesome headed for the kitchen to wait for Paige to return, and began formulating what their next move would be.

Maseras let out a long and aggravated sigh of annoyance. He had to keep reminding himself that he needed this demon; otherwise he'd have vanquished him long ago.

"Tell me again why you think this is necessary," Danix hissed from a couple feet behind him.

Maseras closed his eyes to keep his patience in check. "Because it will put the Source on alert."

"Don't we want him caught off guard?"

Maseras sighed again. It was clear Danix wasn't the smartest demon he could have chosen, but it was too late to replace him so there wasn't anything he could do about it except to keep reminding him over and over about what they needed to do.

"That would only get us vanquished faster. If you catch someone off guard- witch, demon, it doesn't matter- their instincts will kick in. That's why all the attacks against the Charmed Ones have always failed. It isn't that they are powerful witches that has kept them alive all these years, although admittedly that is a factor. But their survival instincts kicked in and they just automatically knew what to do. We need to be more careful in our planning. We pretty much need to let the Source and his queen know that someone is coming after them. Someone powerful," he explained, letting his mouth curl up in a sneer at the last part. Yeah, he thought of himself as powerful. And smart.

Which was more than what he could say about his companion. One look at Danix was all it took for Maseras to know that he'd lost him. The demon's face was contorted into a mask of confusion. Maseras knew he was trying to understand his little speech, but he also knew it was pointless. Only experience would explain his plan to him.

Maseras rolled his eyes impatiently. "Think about it. If we just attack, we won't stand a chance against him because the Source's instincts would take in. All his experience in demon attacks would emerge and he wouldn't even think about it. But if we strategize this and let it play out, we'll be getting him to think too much about it. He'll start to question himself and think too much about it. Who knows," he said, turning away from Danix and shrugging. "We might even scare him a little bit."

This was a stretch, and they both knew it. The Source was never scared.

"I dunno," said Danix, not looking convinced. "It seems a little too simple."

Maseras laughed without humor. "Sometimes the best laid plans are simple. Now hurry up or we'll have missed our chance."

As their destination crept into view, the two demons stopped talking and walked quietly to the cave's entrance. It wasn't large. It was about five times smaller than the cave in which the Source and his queen resided. This cave was meant only for one demon, but she was an important demon. She had been a useful ally to previous Sources, and although she wasn't as powerful as the Seer, she still possessed the gift of foresight which had led to the downfall of countless demons in the past.

"Why is it so important that we kill her?" Danix hissed from behind Maseras.

Maseras felt the beginning of an energy ball formulate in his hands and it took a lot of self control to let it go.

"We can't give the Source any more allies. And if the Source gets to her before we do then we don't stand a chance. She'll have seen us coming."

"If that's true, then hasn't she already seen us coming?"

"No. She only sees visions pertaining to others, much like the queen's powers when she was a Charmed One. She doesn't see visions concerning only her. Now shut up so we can get this over with."

Danix finally fell silent, and Maseras took the blessed opportunity to peer inside the cave.

The female known to most as simply The Oracle was in her usual position on top of a large rock in the middle of the cave. She was peering into her crystal ball, her eyes wide with a vision only she could see. For a minute Maseras felt a surge of jealousy at the power she had that he did not. Though his own powers were strong, he still wished had the ability to take in others' powers. But that was unimportant at the moment. They had a job to do.

He opened his hands wide behind his back and an energy ball immediately formed into existence. At first he thought the Oracle noticed him because she glanced in the direction where they were standing, and Maseras fought to keep himself perfectly still. Behind him, he could sense Danix tense up.

But when nothing happened and the Oracle turned back to her crystal ball, Maseras risked making the ball a little bigger. He wanted to make sure she was caught completely off guard so that this plan did not fail. He had to succeed in this. He would not go through another lifetime being an advisor to other lesser demons. This was his chance.

Letting his impatience get the best of him, Maseras stepped away from the outside wall and let his presence be known. The Oracle's head shot up, and her eyes immediately widened with fear. She possessed no power other than foresight, which made her defenseless, and they both knew it.

Maseras sneered nastily at her. "Let's just make this brief, shall we?"

He raised the hand that held the energy ball and waited a second so that the realization about what was going to happen could enter her mind.

"No...please...!" she started, but Maseras did not have the patience to listen to useless cries.

Without another word he flung the energy ball at her and she immediately vanished into nothing.