"So… I called a friend from trade school and asked him to cover for me while my hand heals," Perry told her older sister, who was putting some broccoli to steam in the microwave for them, "I can't really work with it being like this, and I don't want to keep my clients waiting. He said he'll come tomorrow afternoon."
"Sounds like a good idea," Prue nodded, but she was distracted worrying about their other sisters having dinner with Victor. "How did this actually happen, anyway?" she asked Perry after a moment, looking at her bruised arm, "You're usually so careful."
Blushing, Perry said, "I guess… The boom from the attic must've spooked me. So, when I was in a hurry to see what was going on, I… this happened." Smooth, Perry, she thought. But it was still better than telling Prue, 'I was kissing our neighbor Cynda, and then when I tried to go see what happened she got rough and hurt me.'
She was still thinking about how much she didn't want to have that conversation when the microwave beeped. Just a second after the broccoli was ready, though, they heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get that," Prue said, making the mistake of leaving her hungry sister all alone with the food.
About a minute later, Prue came back to the kitchen with Andy. "Hey, Andy," Perry said, stepping away from the (mostly gone) broccoli in fake innocence.
Looking at her with some concern, Andy said, "Oh, hey, Perry. What happened to your face? And your hand?"
Confused, Perry said, "I had an accident, remember?" But Andy just shook his head, having no idea what she's talking about. Thinking about their long lost father suddenly showing up, the mysterious black dog, and Andy visiting earlier but seeming to forget what happened – it all gave Perry an idea of what might be going on. She needed to check the Book of Shadows.
"Why don't I leave you two alone?" she suggested, "I'll be upstairs if you need me, Prue."
A while later, Prue came by and told her that she's going out with Andy. Perry smiled and told her to enjoy, but by the time her sister was out of the door she's already forgotten all about that. She found what she's been looking for.
"Shapeshifters are demonic beings with the ability to alter their physical form and shape," Perry read from the book, "These lower-level demons can take the form of any person or beast, and even transform parts of their body into the shape of inanimate objects."
Looking at the next page, she smiled when she saw the next entry titled 'Shapeshifter vanquishing potion'.
"Nice reflexes," Victor said sarcastically, when in the blink of an eye Piper moved from sitting across the table to standing next to him – holding the dessert which a second ago was carried by the waiter he tripped, "Now let me get this straight… Piper – you freeze time, Prue – don't you move objects? And what's your special trick, Phoebe? Premonitions? Does Peregrine have an active power too?"
"She's none of your business," Prue told their father, not bothering to deny the rest of what he said.
"Still, maybe we should talk about this elsewhere?"
Perry has just finished preparing the vanquishing potion when she heard the doorbell ring. Putting a couple of vials of the potion in her pocket, she went to get the door, but froze when she opened it and saw Cynda.
"Look, Perry-" Cynda started to say, but the witch came to her senses and tried to close the door. Her neighbor held the door open, however, and she was stronger than Perry. Especially now that she was injured. Unfortunately Vic was probably sleeping in the backyard.
"What do you want?" the youngest Halliwell angrily asked her.
"I'm sorry I hurt you, sometimes I forget how strong I am."
"No. You did this to me on purpose. You didn't even look back."
"I was embarrassed," Cynda said, sounding irritated as if Perry's accusations were nothing more than bothersome trivial complaints, "I felt like you're rejecting me, so I got defensive."
"Then I wasn't," Perry said, "But now I am. Go away, Cynda."
Smiling wickedly, the redhead shook her head and grabbed Perry by her hair. She hit the witch's head against the doorframe, making her lose consciousness, and then shapeshifted into her.
"Fritz says that her sisters are on their way back," the demon heard Marshall's voice behind her, "Take her back to our house, I'll take it over from here." Marshall shifted into Perry while his sister changed back into herself, but as she walked away with the real Perry slung on her shoulder, he reminded her, "Don't kill her yet, Cynda. We might still need her. There'll be plenty of time to kill all four witches later."
"…And this one used to be a five-by-seven," Victor told his daughters, or at least three of them, since he still hasn't seen any sign of his youngest daughter Peregrine, "When I was still in it."
They were looking at old family photographs together. The framed photo he was currently talking about showed Patty Halliwell sitting surrounded by her four daughters and smiling brightly, her arms around little Piper and the tiny twins. Prue was sitting on what were apparently Victor's knees, but his actual face was cut out from the picture.
"I think Grams cut you out," Phoebe said.
"There's a bunch of other stuff in the attic," Piper told him, "Grams left us so many things."
"It's not all she left us."
"Phoebe, let's not go there," Prue said sternly.
"What? It's not like he doesn't already know, and I'm sorry, but it's kind of a relief to talk to someone about it."
"Um, does anybody want coffee?" Piper asked, smiling awkwardly, in an attempt to prevent another confrontation.
"I mean, one day I am a member of the Y generation with average hair and a thing for caffeinated beverages, and the next – I am a witch!"
"Dad? Do you take cream, or sugar, with that?"
"I just read from the book and 'wham!' I am Tabitha!" Phoebe continued to talk excitedly, ignoring Piper's discomfort and Prue's glaring, "The only thing is, I got stuck with the power to see the future. How uncool is that?"
"Well," Victor told her, "From what your mother always said, it was actually considered one of the more desirable powers."
"Unless you see things you don't desire," Phoebe said, sounding much more serious than she did just a few seconds ago.
"So how long have you known?" Prue asked their father, "About us, our powers. How long?"
"I didn't," he answered, "I knew there was a possibility. That's why I came back – to find out. Must've happened when your grandmother died, right?"
"Yup," Phoebe said, "I just read an incantation from the book, and then-"
"Phoebe!" Prue stopped her.
"Ahh…" Victor said in an exaggerated dramatic voice, "The Book of Shadows… Not exactly 'summer reading'. Is it still up in the attic? You know, I haven't seen it in years… Mind if I have a look?"
"Where is he? What the hell is taking him so long?" Cynda shouted at Fritz, angrily throwing a chair at the wall and breaking it to pieces, "He has the bitch's face, how hard can it be to convince her sisters to take the book out of the house?!"
"Patience, Cynda," her brother tried to calm her down, "Just try for once to behave like a normal demon being and not some blood-raging monster."
"Patience is highly overrated. The witch is right here, helpless, begging to be killed. We should just destroy her, right here and now."
"Yeah, let's kill the witch who doesn't have any powers. What exactly will that give us?"
"Satisfaction," Cynda answered with a shrug, caressing Perry's cheek, barely resisting the urge to shapeshift into her true form and rip that pretty face apart with her long sharp teeth.
"If anything, we should go with my idea – kill the ones with real active powers, and then force Phoebe to get the book out."
"Wha…" slowly regaining consciousness, Perry looked around her. She was tied to a chair in their neighbors' house. Cynda and Fritz were there too – arguing, talking about… killing witches?
Her thinking was still a little foggy, but after a few seconds she managed to quietly mumble, "You… you're the shapeshifters? All three of you? I thought it was… Victor."
"The Charmed Ones know there are shapeshifters trying to get the Book of Shadows?" Fritz realized in alarm.
"Relax," Cynda told him, "The Charmed Ones' sister knows. But she didn't have a chance to tell her sisters about it yet – did you, babe?"
She caressed Perry's face again, showing the witch her true form just to giggle in delight at Perry's horror.
"What exactly are you accusing me of, Prue?"
"Figure it out," she told her father, glaring at him with her arms crossed.
"Come on, Prue," Phoebe told her angrily, "Take it easy."
"Are you kidding me? Am I the only one who sees what's going on here?"
"Couldn't we all just take a deep breath-" Piper started to say.
"Think about it, Piper! What, he wines and dines us, now he's back in a house he hasn't set foot in in twenty years, and the first thing he wants to know is 'where's the Book of Shadows'?"
"You're just looking for something to blame him for!" Phoebe insisted.
"Admit it," Prue told Victor, "Tell them why you're here."
"Prue, stop!" Piper begged, but her sister shook her head.
"For the first time in your life, Victor, tell them the truth."
"Alright, fine," he said, sighing, "You're right. I am after the book. That's exactly the reason why I came back."
"Dad…" Phoebe said weakly, looking at him in shock.
"But not for the reasons you would like to believe," he continued, "that would make it easy for you, Prue, wouldn't it? If I were evil? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you – I'm not. I'm here to protect you."
"Yeah, right," Prue muttered.
"To protect us from what?" Piper asked.
"From yourselves!" he said, "That's why I want that damn book! It's where the Power of Three started, and it's where it must end."
"But it's part of us," Phoebe said, hurt and confused, "It's part of who we are."
"That's what your mother believed too… before they killed her."
"What are you saying?" Piper asked him.
"You have no idea what evil is out there."
"Oh, I think we've got a pretty good idea," Prue said, looking at him with contempt.
"Listen to me, Prue. That book is a magnet for evil. As long as you have it, as long as you use it, you're in danger. All of you. Even Peregrine."
"It's actually Perry," their youngest sister said, coming over from upstairs, "Not that you would know, or care. I mean, you never actually wanted to reconnect with any of us – you just wanted the Book to strip our powers, and then walk off patting yourself on the back that you saved us from magic – thinking it makes up for being gone our whole lives."
"Of course it doesn't-" he started to say, but Perry wasn't finished.
"I say we give him the Book. Just so he'll leave us alone – and for good this time. We only had these powers for two weeks, and nearly died at least as many times since then. If it gets us rid of him, I'm willing to give them up."
"You don't mean that, Perry," her twin said. Phoebe wasn't sure which was more awful – that Perry was willing to give up their powers, or that the only reason she was so eager to do it was to never see their father again.
"You can't just let him win," Prue told her youngest sister, and then turned in fury to Victor. "You are unbelievable," she said, "After all these years of being an absentee dad then you waltz back into our lives and try and tell us how to live?!"
"I never wanted you to have those powers in the first place," he said, "I battled with your grandmother after your mom died. She wanted you to find out you were witches when you grew up, I didn't. I fought for you, hard… Your grandmother was too strong."
"Wait!" Piper stopped him angrily, "You're blaming Grams for why you disappeared? She loved us! She raised us!"
"What did she do, put a spell on you?" Prue asked sarcastically.
"Believe me-" he began to say, but Perry stopped him.
"Believe you? We don't even know you!" she said, and to her sisters she added, "Look, either we give him the Book of Shadows or don't, but this… discussion isn't going anywhere."
Victor sighed. He wanted the Book to protect his daughters, but because of how he failed the in the past, none of them could see that. The only daughter that technically seemed to be on 'his side' was only willing to give him the Book because she couldn't bare the sight of him.
"Phoebe," he tried one more time to convince the daughter who seemed to resent him the least, "You believe me, don't you?" But she just sighed and shook her head helplessly – she wanted to believe that he wanted what's best for them, but she just couldn't. Even if his intentions really were good, he had to be wrong.
"We've done fine without you," Prue told him.
"Prue, you can't fight this!" he begged her to listen, "I couldn't!"
"I'm not you!"
"Are you sure? Are you sure you can protect your sisters forever?"
"We'll protect each other," Phoebe told him.
"Then you'll die together!"
"No one can hurt us as bad as you!" Prue yelled at their father, and used her power to throw him against a doorframe.
"If you wanted me to leave…" he said, panting, after getting back on his feet, "all you had to do… was ask."
"Why would she bother?" Perry retorted, "Isn't leaving your go-to parenting technique? Although, I have to admit – even being here for just one day, you managed to prove you're a much better father when you're gone."
It seemed Victor had nothing more to say to them, and he just walked away to the door.
"Why did you do that?" Phoebe angrily asked Prue as he left, then she looked at Perry and said, "And you… I don't even know where to start…"
"Did you have to throw him so hard?" Piper chastised her older sister.
"It got him to leave, didn't it?" Perry told her.
"We could have just, you know, talked about it! Like normal people!"
"We're not normal," Prue said, walking away to her room.