Chapter 78: Charmed Again Pt. 2
Piper retrieves an ice pack from the freezer and places it gently on Leo's neck. Leo holds it against his sore neck. "I don't understand how you can keep healing innocents, but you can't figure out a way to heal yourself."
"It's kind of hard to heal myself when I'm knocked out." Leo says as Buffy and Phoebe walk in.
"Leo, how is it possible for an angel to even get knocked out? I mean, you are, after all, technically dead." Phoebe says.
"Three years together, and now you're asking these questions?" Leo says.
Buffy rolls her eyes. "Well Phoebe…"
"I think the more appropriate question is, how does a Whitelighter get somebody knocked up?" Piper says as Phoebe lets out a giggle.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo asks.
"What do you think it means?" Buffy asks.
Leo sighs, "If it's about Paige, I swear, the Elders had no idea that she even existed, or that she was your sister and Buffy's cousin."
"Sister." Buffy says.
"Cousin." Leo says, "You may consider them sisters but their still your cousins."
Phoebe nods, "Sister witch. Better?"
Piper nods, "Half-witch, half-Whitelighter. Let's not forget that little surprise." She helps Leo with the ice pack. "I still can't believe that Mom kept that secret from us."
Buffy shakes her head, "You can't believe that when my mom did the same thing with me. Let's see you all didn't know I was alive for 16 years."
Phoebe sighs, "Buffy has a point. We reacted to her better than we are reacting to Paige. Still, it sounded like mom didn't have much of a choice."
Piper nods, "We're her daughters. She could've found a way to share that information with us. And your right Buffy, Aunt Joyce should have told us about you also." The doorbell rings. "That better not be another long-lost relative." She goes to answer the door. Buffy, Phoebe and Leo follow. Piper greets Darryl at the door and lets him in.
"Hi Piper." Darryl says.
"Hi there." Piper says as she closes the door and Darryl looks around.
"Where's Cortez?" Darryl asks.
"Who?" Buffy asks.
Darryl frowns, "Inspector Cortez - the one I hit over the head, the one you said you would take care of. He's missing. Police inspectors are not supposed to be missing. Where is he?"
"Well, I kind of sent him to…" Phoebe says.
Piper sighs, "Timbuktu. It rhymed with undo."
"Timbuktu." Darryl says.
Leo nods, "It's okay. Cole went to get him."
"Cole?" Darryl says as Cole shimmers into the manor by the stairs.
Phoebe smiles, "Cole!"
"Wait." Cole says as he gets an energy ball ready and a bounty hunter appears suddenly and strikes. The bolt of blue lightning misses Cole barely and Cole kills the bounty hunter with his energy ball. Cole stands up. "Damn bounty hunters… they're like gnats."
"Where's the inspector?" Darryl asks.
Cole smiles, "Don't worry. I found him. Moved him to a place he can't tell a soul what he saw. Literally."
"What do you mean? Where'd you put him?" Leo says and Cole gestures below him.
"In the basement?" Phoebe asks.
Buffy shakes her head, "No. I think he means a little bit further down than that."
"Oh." Phoebe says.
Leo shakes his head, "Cole, he's a cop. He's one of the good guys."
"He's also the one who can expose them as witches. I think that you, above anybody, would want to avoid that at all costs." Cole says. "Especially after what happened when Prue died."
"Not at that cost. We have to save him." Leo says.
Buffy glares at Cole for even mentioning Prue. Though she can't blame Cole for Prue dying. He tried to make sure Leo could save Prue and Piper. He didn't know that the Source would detain him and then try and kill her and Phoebe.
"Save him? What do you mean, save him? Wh-what's going on?" Darryl says.
Phoebe sighs, "You know what, Darryl? We are going to take care of this whole mess."
"Wait a second. Hold…" Darryl says.
"You don't worry about it." Buffy says and she escorts Darryl out the door and then joins the others.
"Okay. Maybe you can talk to the Inspector, reason with him." Piper says.
Phoebe hugs Cole.
"And what if he can't? What if you three get exposed? What's to say the same thing won't happened to you that happened to Prue?" Cole says.
Phoebe sighs, "Well it's a risk we'll have to take, again."
"Yeah well, you know what? There's another risk you guys have to worry about. On the way back, I heard gargoyles." Cole says.
"Gargoyles? You mean like statues?" Buffy asks.
Cole nods, "That's only in they're in their resting state. They come alive to ward off evil. In this case, I think they're trying to ward off the Source. I think he's surfaced."
"Wait - what? He's here? Now? Where?" Phoebe says.
"I don't know. Could be anywhere. Or anyone." Cole says.
Leo frowns, "Probably came for Paige, but she doesn't stand a chance against him. She doesn't even know what her power is yet."
"Leo, we don't stand a chance against him. Not without Prue. Even with Buffy being a Charmed One now." Phoebe says.
Leo nods, "But you might with Paige - the new Power of Three. And then access the new Power of Four."
"Can you sense her?" Piper asks.
Leo shakes his head, "I don't think so. She's too new."
Piper nods, "Well then we just have to start with the church Mom was talking about."
Buffy nods, "Good idea."
Phoebe frowns, "Piper…"
"What? Phoebe, I'm not crazy about it, either, but we can't just do anything about it - now. Mom wouldn't want us to... and neither would Prue. And I have my doubts Aunt Joyce would either." Piper says.
Buffy nods, "Piper's right, Pheebs."
The next morning Piper is holding the Yellow Pages and looks into Phoebe's room.
"Phoebe, I think I found…" Phoebe's not there. "The church. Phoebe?"
Buffy comes out of her room, "Piper?"
"Do you know where, Phoebe's at?" Piper asks.
Buffy shakes her head. They go look into Prue's old room and find Phoebe standing there, facing the window. Piper sets down the phone book and she and Buffy walks up to their sister. "What are you doing in here?"
Phoebe turns around holding a leather jacket. Phoebe's face is tear stained. "You remember the time I borrowed this from Prue without asking?"
"Which time?" Piper asks.
"When my boyfriend's cat peed on it. Oh. She got so mad, I thought she was gonna have a stroke." Phoebe says and wipes her nose. "But the funny thing was, she got mad at you because she thought that you were the one that had borrowed it. And you never told her the truth. She never knew it was really me." Phoebe sobs and sits down on a red sofa. Piper comes over and sits beside her. Piper pulls Phoebe to her and embraces her sister. "I miss her so much."
Buffy nods, "Me, too."
Piper smiles, "Me, three. I was wondering when you were gonna let go."
Phoebe sighs, "I was just… I was trying to." Piper hands her a tissue. "Thanks. Stay strong, you know, keep it together for you two, and… then I put all my energy into trying to save… Paige because I figured only one or two of us could break down at a time. Otherwise, we'd all be useless." She sits up. "I'm scared, Piper. Buffy. I'm really, really scared. She always took the lead. She was… she was our big sister. How are we supposed to go on without her? How are we supposed to go up against the Source without her?"
Buffy sighs. "I don't know. But I do know that we can't let the bastard get Paige, either so, no matter what we think or feel, she is our sister. And sisters protect each other."
Later at the church Piper knocks on the door and she, Buffy, and Phoebe enters.
"Yes, may I help…" Sister Agnes says.
"Hi." Piper says and she freezes Sister Agnes. "Hey, what's up? We need to get you out of here."
"What did you do to her?" Paige says.
"Oh, she just froze her. She'll be fine." Phoebe says.
Buffy nods, "Yeah. Lucky she didn't blow her up. Her powers have been a little off lately."
"Piper." Phoebe says and points at the blanket Paige is holding.
Piper blinks, "Is that our blanket?" She tries to touch it, but Paige pulls it away.)
Paige shakes her head, "No! That's mine! Leave me alone!" She turns to leave.
Piper sighs, "All right! Gee."
Buffy, Piper and Phoebe follow Paige.
"Paige. Paige. Paige." Buffy says.
"Stop or I'll freeze!" Piper says as Paige stops and turns. Buffy, Phoebe and Piper stop as well.
"She's a witch. You can't freeze her." Phoebe whispers.
"She doesn't know that." Buffy whispers.
"Will you please just leave me alone?" Paige says and continues to walk towards the main exit.
Phoebe sighs, "Look, we know what you're going through. We went through the same thing when we first found out we were witches, too."
"Look. You just gotta trust us. Somebody very, very bad is after you." Piper says.
Paige stops and turns around. "Trust you? You just froze a nun? How do I know you're not the bad ones?"
Piper sighs, "Well if we are, then you are, sister."
"Piper." Phoebe says.
Paige turns to leave.
"What? Fine. Then you try." Piper says.
Phoebe nods, "You have a magical power, you know." Paige stops and turns. Buffy, Phoebe and Piper come closer to Paige to talk. "Mmm. At least, if you're really a Charmed One, you do. And the sooner you learn it, the sooner you'll be able to protect yourself."
"I have a power?" Paige asks.
Buffy nods, "According to the prophecy, the third sister has the power to move things with her mind. Like Prue could."
"How does it work?" Paige asks.
"You concentrate on an object like that candle right there." Phoebe says as she points at the candle a few feet away. "And then you just wave your arm at it." She Phoebe demonstrates and waves her arm.
Paige tries it, but nothing happens. She looks to Buffy, Piper and Phoebe.
"Or, uh, you could squint your eyes. She used to squint her eyes." Piper says.
"Yeah when we first got our powers, Prue squinted a lot." Buffy says.
Paige waves her hand at the candle and squints but nothing happens to the candle. She turns back to the others. "Well, maybe I'm not one of you after all if I can't even make that candle…" Paige raises out her hand in the candle's direction. The candle is surrounded by blue and white bright lights and disappears and reappears in Paige's outstretched hand. Paige hands the candle slowly to Phoebe. "Oh."
"So perhaps the whitelighter in her makes it work differently?" Phoebe says and blows out the candle and sets it aside.
"Half-breed." Piper says.
"Piper!" Buffy says.
Suddenly they hear a noise coming from outside.
"What is that?" Paige asks.
"I don't know." Phoebe says.
Suddenly the doors open, and they see Shane, Paige's boyfriend, on the ground outside. "Paige."
"Shane?" Paige says as shhe rushes to help him. "What's the matter? My god, what happened?"
"I don't know. Someone's after me." Shane says as Paige helps him up.
"Paige!" Buffy says as she, Piper and Phoebe run after Paige.
"Come on. Let's get out of here." Paige says.
"Paige! Come back!" Phoebe says as Shane turns and fires a red bolt at Buffy, Piper and Phoebe. Buffy, Piper and Phoebe scream and go flying backwards, sliding their way to the inside of the front of the church. "Whoo!"
"What the hell was that?" Piper asks.
"Good question." Sister Agnes says.
Later back at the Manor Buffy, Piper and Phoebe are sitting on the couch in the conservatory. Cole and Leo are pacing in front of them with their arms folded.
"So the Source was there, at the church?" Leo asks.
Phoebe nods, "Well, the gargoyles weren't exactly whistling Dixie, Leo."
"Plus, something pretty powerful knocked us on our asses." Piper says.
Cole sits down. "But if he was there, why didn't he try to kill Paige?"
"Maybe he didn't want to go up against the Charmed Ones." Buffy says.
Cole shakes his head, "No, that doesn't make sense. He knows that Paige is new to her powers. If ever there was a time to attack…"
"Wait a minute. What if he's not trying to kill her anymore? What if he's trying to lure her to his side?" Leo says.
"Translation please?" Phoebe asks.
Cole nods, "The mythological window."
"There's a window of opportunity, an opening." Leo says.
"48 hours." Cole says.
Leo nods, "Right, 48 hours where a nascent witch who hasn't chosen to use her powers for good or evil yet can be swayed either way." He sits down.
"Wait, so all he has to do is cast a spell on her?" Buffy asks.
Cole shakes his head, "No, he can't. It has to be her choice, but he can tempt her, entice her. If he gets her to use her powers for evil…"
Leo nods, "She becomes evil forever."
Phoebe sighs.
"Who makes up these cockamamie rules?" Piper says. Cole looks down and Leo looks up. "Oh, never mind…"
"Okay, so we have less than 24 hours to get to Paige and no idea how to find her." Buffy says.
Piper nods, "But I bet the Source does."
Later in the attic Cole is looking at Cortez, who's leaning against his car parked outside the Manor. Buffy, Phoebe, Piper, and Leo are looking at both Book of Shadows.
"Are you sure you don't want me to turn Belthazor loose on Cortez just for a minute or two?" Cole says.
Leo shakes his head, "No. He doesn't have anything on the girls yet. Besides, now is no time to be blurring the line between good and evil."
Phoebe closes the Charmed Book. "This is useless." She clears her throat as Buffy closes her Book. "We're never gonna find Paige without a little help." The books opens on their own and flips through the pages. They stop on one page. "Works everytime. Okay, an enchantment spell. Wait. How is this gonna help find her?"
"Well, maybe it's not to find Paige. Maybe it's so we can ID the Source. See the last line? It's, so she can reveal the evil within." Piper says/
"But that'll only help if we can find him?" Buffy says.
Leo nods, "Maybe we can, or at least, maybe you can." He looks at Cole.
"What does he mean?" Phoebe asks.
Cole walks toward them. He clears his throat. "Demons can sense the Source's aura. It's how he reminds us of his power, his reach. Maybe if I focus on it…"
"Then he'll know you're doing it. And he'll find you." Phoebe says.
Cole shakes his head, "Not if I was careful. It's your only chance at saving your sister." He goes back to the window.
"Okay. So we need something to enchant. " Piper says.
Buffy nods, "Right, um…" Everyone looks around. She spots something. "Oh!" She goes over to a shelf and finds a pair of pink kiddy sunglasses. "How about these?"
Piper shakes her head, "Oh Buffy."
Phoebe takes the sunglasses from Buffy, "What? They're perfect."
Piper sighs, "Oh great." She and Phoebe hold either side of the sunglasses. Buffy walks over behind them.
"Magic forces far and wide, Enchant these so those can't hide, Allow this witch to use therein, So she can reveal the evil within." Buffy, Piper and Phoebe chant.
The glasses lenses' glow.
"Hmm." Phoebe says.
"Okay. Better test 'em." Buffy says.
Phoebe puts the glasses on. She giggles a little as she looks at Leo.
"Well?" Leo asks.
"Nothing. You look the same." Phoebe says.
"How 'bout me?" Cole says as Phoebe looks at him and lets out a little scream. "What?" Through the glasses, Phoebe sees Cole as Belthazor as he walks toward the girls. "What do I look like?"
"You look like hell." Phoebe says as she takes off the glasses. "Enchanting." Cole smiles. Phoebe looks up. "Thanks for the magical assist Grams."
Piper nods, "How do you know it wasn't somebody else?"
Later Piper pulls up at Social Services in her jeep with Buffy, Phoebe, Cole, and Leo. They all get out and look around.
"I don't see Paige anywhere." Phoebe says.
Piper nods, "Are you sure this is the right place, Cole?"
"The Source is here. I can sense him." Cole says.
"Wait. There she is." Leo says
Phoebe puts on the sunglasses and sees a black aura around Paige.
"What is she doing?" Buffy asks.
"I don't know, but she's got a black aura around her." Phoebe says.
"The Source?" Leo asks.
Cole shakes his head, "No. It can't be. If Phoebe saw my demonic self, then she'd see his too."
"Yeah. Well, whatever it is, it's not good. Come on." Phoebe says and they go towards Paige as a small crowd gathers around Jake.
"Jake! Jake! No." Carol says.
"Paige? Paige? It's me, Phoebe. And Piper. And Buffy." Phoebe says.
"He's evil. He's hurting his child." Paige says.
"Oh God! Honey." Carol says.
Buffy shakes her head, "No. You're being seduced into doing this."
"No! No Jake!" Carol says.
"All right. You know what? Hi." Piper says as she pushes Paige's hand down. "Leo, take her. Go home. Go, go, go, go." Leo orbs out with Paige. Jake's pain lessens.
"Let's get out of here." Cole says and they walk away. They get back in the jeep.
"You three go ahead. I'm going to stay behind. Make sure the Source doesn't follow you." Cole says as he kisses Phoebe.
They drive back to the Manor.
Phoebe takes off her coat as they walk into the foyer moments later.
"Leo, where's…" Piper says as they enter, a knife is thrown, nearly missing Piper and Leo. Buffy, Phoebe and Piper let out a small scream.
"I'm having a hard time convincing her that she is not evil!" Leo says.
"I think we see that." Buffy says.
"Lamp." Paige says.
It disappears in white orbs and reappears. She telekinetically throws it toward Buffy, Piper and Phoebe, who duck after they scream. It smashes against the wall.)
"If she keeps this up. I'm going to start fireballing our own furniture just to keep us from being hit." Buffy says.
"Bright side - at least she's getting the hang of her new power." Phoebe says.
"That was Mom's crystal!" Piper says as she tackles Paige to the ground. Phoebe and Buffy joins her in holding Paige down.
"Okay. Relax. Relax." Phoebe says as Leo takes Piper's place in holding Paige down as Piper gets up. "All right. Now what?"
Piper sighs, "We just better hope there's some Wiccan exorcism in the Book of Shadows cause… yeah." She goes to the stairs, but stops when the lights flicker off and on. Shane/Source appears by the corner of the stairs. "Who are you?" His eyes turn all black and he telekinetically throws Piper through the stairs banister.
"Piper!" Leo, Phoebe and Buffy says.
Shane/Source throws an energy ball at Phoebe, but she levitates to avoid it.
Buffy powers up a fireball, "Two can play that game." She throws the fireball at Shane/Source and he disappears.
Shane/Source appears by the couch. Piper uses her power to blow him up. Paige stands up and Leo helps Piper up. Shane/Source reassembles.
Phoebe grabs the glasses and puts them on. She sees the Source. "Oh, Piper! Buffy! That's the… that's the…" She takes off the glasses and goes to Piper. Buffy makes her way to Piper also. "Loo…loo… loo… look!" Piper pushes her hand away.
"I know who that is." Piper says.
Shane/Source smiles, "Your powers are strong, but will they be enough without the Power of Three."
"Shane, what's going on?" Paige asks.
"It's okay. I'm here now." Shane/Source says.
"Stay away from me." Paige says.
Leo nods, "She still has free will. You can't force her to choose."
Shane/Source shakes his head, "Oh, but she's already chosen, haven't you? Come with me. You'll be safe forever. I promise."
Buffy shakes her head, "Don't listen to him. He's lying."
"They only want you for your power. You don't have to share it. It's yours." Shane/Source says and he turns into Mr. Cowan. "You've already seen what you can do with it. You do what nobody else can do." He turns into Carol. "You nearly saved my son from his father. From all the pain and suffering he's put him through." He turns into the little boy. "Please help me. Don't let him hurt me anymore. You're my only hope."
Paige takes his hand and starts to go with him.
"No!" Phoebe says as the boy/Source races his hand, suspending Phoebe in mid-air and shocking her with electricity. "Help me!"
Paige pushes Boy/Source down and Phoebe falls down. Buffy, Piper, Leo, and Paige go over to her to help her up. The clock chimes in the background.
"Phoebe? Okay. Come on. Come on." Piper says as the boy disappears and the Source repossesses Shane, who stands up. "I guess blood's a little thicker than evil." The Source/Shane looks at the clock and goes out of Shane, who falls to the ground, to reveal his true self.
"I've broken the Charmed circle before. I'll do it again." The Source says.
Buffy laughs, "Now that Paige is with us. You won't have a chance. Not with the Power of Four standing against you."
The Source frowns, the Power of Four? What is she talking about he wonders. "Besides, it wasn't a complete loss. Thanks to Belthazor."
"What did you do to him?" Phoebe says.
"Oh my God." Cortez says as the Source, Leo, and the sisters turn to see Cortez standing near the front door with a video camera. He's amazed at what he sees.
"Inspector, would you get out of here?!" Piper says as Cortez reaches for his gun, the Source fires an energy ball at him, knocking him on the coat rack. He screams. He's knocked on a hanger. Piper gasps. Cortez falls down, revealing blood on the hanger. The Source disappears in a blast of fire. The others race to Cortez. Leo kneels down beside him.
"Looks like evil wins again, huh?" Cortez says.
Leo shakes his head, "Not if I can help it." He heals him. Cortez is shocked.
"How'd you do that?" Paige asks.
Leo helps a shocked Cortez up. "That's what Whitelighters do. We heal good people."
Phoebe nods, "We have to go find Cole." All, except Cortez, leave. He checks his used to be wound and the video camera.
Near South Bay Social Services. Cole is lying on the ground, nearly dead.
"Cole!" Phoebe says as she spots him and runs over to him. She kneels down beside him. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." She puts his head in his lap.
Piper freezes Cole. "Heal him."
Leo sighs, "You know that it's against the rules."
"Leo, screw the rules. The Elders owe us." Piper says.
Leo sighs, "Even if I could, I could only heal his human half and that… wouldn't be enough power to save him." He kneels down.
Paige smiles, "Aren't I half Whitelighter? I mean, couldn't I use my half to offset his half?"
Leo nods, "It's worth a try. Take my hand." Paige kneels down beside him and does so. "Hold your other hand over his wound."
Paige and Leo heal Cole. He unfreezes and gasps for air. Phoebe hugs him, happy he's alive.
"That was good, right?" Paige asks as Buffy and Piper help Paige stand up as Leo stands up too.
Buffy nods, "That was very good. Let's just hope it wasn't all for nothing."
That evening at Payson's Buffy, Piper, Phoebe, Leo, and Cole are sitting in the alcove. A waitress, Megan, brings Cole and Leo their drinks.
"Oh good, thank you." Cole says.
Leo smiles, "Thanks, too." She leaves. "Feels good be here again."
Cole nods, "Feels good to be anywhere again." He chuckles.
"I will drink to that." Phoebe says as they clink their drinks. "Don't ever scare me like that again."
"Promise." Cole says as Phoebe smiles as she takes a drink.
"You okay?" Buffy asks.
Piper shakes her head, "I'm not sure."
"Prue?" Leo asks.
Piper nods, "Yeah. We barely got through the funeral and then everything started to go crazy and we haven't had a chance to mourn yet. And that's just not right."
Buffy nods, "I agree, Piper. But I think we'll have the rest of our lives for that."
Piper nods, "I'm still not sure about continuing on with this destiny thing. I need some time to think about it. I hope you're both okay with that."
"Absolutely." Phoebe says.
Buffy nods, "I'm okay with it. I'm going to be doing a lot of thinking on that myself."
"And I hope you're okay with it too." Piper says
Leo nods, "They may not be, but I am." He takes her hand. Paige walks up.
Paige smiles, "So does this mean I get free drinks now?" Phoebe chuckles a little.
Buffy smiles and nods waving over a waitress, "Get Paige here anything she wants. On the house."
The waitress nods.
Paige shakes her head, "Oh, I didn't mean it like that. It's not that I really drink or… Okay. I'm just gonna go." She begins to leave, but Leo stands up and stops her.
"No, Paige. You belong here, remember?" Leo says.
"You sure? I don't want to intrude." Paige says.
Phoebe nods, "Mmm. Come on. Come sit right here." Cole goes over to stand next to Leo as Paige sits down next to Phoebe.
Cole nods, "Okay, so, uh, maybe Leo and I should go uh… pretend like we got something better to do."
Piper smiles, "Good idea."
"Yeah." Cole says and he and Leo leave.
"I won't stay long. I just wanted to, uh, come by and thank you." Paige says.
"For what?" Phoebe asks.
Paige smiles, "For what? You mean, beside from saving my life." She chuckles. "I feel like I should bake you a cake or something."
"Do you cook?" Piper asks.
Paige shakes her head, "No, no. Not really."
"So how's Shane?" Buffy asks.
"He's okay, I guess, except I'm not too sure he wants to see me anymore." Paige says.
Phoebe smiles sadly, "Oh, I'm sorry."
Paige shakes her head, "No. Can't say I blame him. You know? He doesn't know exactly what happened to him, but he knows its something bad and he knows it's somehow connected to me."
"Yeah, well, you're not truly one of us until you've dated a demon, so, welcome to the club." Piper says.
"Or a vampire." Buffy says.
"Can I ask you a question?" Phoebe says.
Paige nods, "Hm-mmm."
"Why did you come to Prue's funeral? I mean, you never even met her, right?" Phoebe says.
Paige shakes her head, "No. I never did. I don't want this to be taken the wrong way, but… I just feel like a part of me lost her too and I just… I felt drawn to her, to all you guys. I guess it was just a part of me trying to find out who I was."
Buffy, Piper and Phoebe look at each other.
"Come on. There's something we need to show you." Piper says.
"Show me what?" Paige asks.
Buffy smiles, "What good magic can do."
They get up and leave.
Later back at the Manor in the attic. Phoebe lights the last two candles in a circle and then join Buffy and Piper by the Charmed Book of Shadows as Paige watches on.
"Here these words. Hear my cry spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide." Buffy, Piper and Phoebe chant.
Patty appears in a bright light.
"There's someone here we thought you should meet." Phoebe says.
Patty looks at Paige. "Paige."
"Mom?" Paige asks.
Patty steps outside the circle and becomes real. She hugs Paige, who smiles after the hug. "Welcome home." She hugs her again as Buffy, Piper and Phoebe watch on the tender moment.