Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. I have never been to SF, BTW. When choosing a hospital for Kate to be based out of, and a coffee shop nearby for her and Phoebe's talk, I just looked up 'hospitals in San Francisco' and chose the first one with an ER. Then for the coffee shop I just looked up places nearby and chose a random one.

Thanks to everyone reading this!

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Published 23-3-2024

Chapter Six

Phoebe's Vision

Phoebe slipped inside the bustling ER of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. She made her way to a corner (as the seats were all full of waiting patients, and if one became free, she had no intention of taking it from a patient who needed it) and settled in to wait, taking out her iPad (a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary present from Cole back in October, before everything had gone so wrong) and began scribbling ideas for her next book in her GoodNotes app. She looked up every time the main doors opened and paramedics came in pushing gurneys, but it wasn't until she'd been waiting for over an hour that her niece came in, helping to push what seemed to be a car crash victim, rapping out information to the waiting nurses and doctor, before stepping away to allow them space as they hurried the injured woman away.

Kate turned directly towards Phoebe as the older woman stowed away her iPad and Apple pen in her bag, heading over to her niece with a nervous smile. It had been three weeks since Kate had dropped her 'marriage' bomb and left, and Phoebe had decided that they couldn't keep hoping for Kate to come to them. They had to go to her, and explain their perspective. Once, she had been in Kate's shoes, in love with an enemy and fighting the family for his right to be one of them, and she felt she was the best person to explain why it was different with Nico.

"Hello, Aunt Phoebe," Kate said flatly.

"Hey, sweetie!" Phoebe smiled, ignoring her niece's cold greeting. "Are you on break yet or should I wait a while? There's a café here, isn't there?"

"Yes, I'm on break and yes, there's a café but it's shit," Kate replied with a resigned sigh. Phoebe couldn't sense her emotions. Kate had learned to block out others' emotions and thoughts and hide her own feelings from other empaths when Phoebe was training her.

It was ironic, Phoebe often thought, and very circular. Her Other self had taught Other Kate had to control her empathy and telepathy, then Other Kate had taught 2004 Phoebe, and then she had taught her niece in this timeline.

Seeing her niece grow into the fierce and fiery time traveller who'd given her life for her brother had been both wonderful and heartbreaking. She was a permanent reminder of their terrible loss, and a gift, a chance to make up for all their mistakes, both in the Other timeline and in the past. They'd all ended up more protective of her and spoiling her more than the others because of it, while at the same time trusting her morality and relying on her to watch the younger ones more than the other children, because they already knew who she would grow up to be.

Watching her grow up was so hard though. They saw Kate Perry whenever Kate said something sarcastic, and at the same time the time traveller was ripped away from them all over again whenever Kate did something they wouldn't have expected from the war hardened version of her, such as asking getting into music or refusing to cut her hair, no matter how often it got in her way during fights. Her playing dress up had always been heartbreaking, reminding them as it did of how Other Kate would pretend not to understand how to do her make-up to have an excuse to get Piper to do it for her.

Her deciding to go into medicine had made complete sense, even if it had surprised them at the time. Even when their relationship with Kate Perry had been at its worst, they'd known she had hated not being able to heal them. Her expression when they were hurt had always been as pained as if she were the one hit with an energy ball. Of course, she went into medicine.

"We're better off going to Rise & Grind," Kate went on, snapping Phoebe from her painful thoughts. Right. Kate (both Kates, in fact) wasn't gone. She was right in front of her, and Phoebe needed to bring her back to their family before it was too late to repair the damage.

"It's got good quality stuff, but a bottle of water won't cost three dollars," Kate elaborated. "And I could do with one of their sandwiches."

"Lead the way," Phoebe chirruped, gesturing towards the exit. Kate paused at the Nurses' Station to tell them she was going on break and would be back in an hour, before striding out of the crowded ER. They walked over to the small coffee shop in silence. They ordered drinks and sandwiches, then sat down at a corner table, and Phoebe noticed with a pang of sadness that Kate automatically adjusted herself to be able to easily see the rest of the room.

They stayed quiet until after their food and drinks arrived, and then a few minutes longer. Finally, Phoebe realized that Kate wasn't going to start the conversation, and decided she had to do so instead.

"Honey, we need to talk about Nico," she stated.

Kate pursed her lips tightly, not replying, so Phoebe went on.

"Look, sweetie, I know how you feel, alright? You think Nico is a good man, that his heritage isn't his fault and he can overcome it. And you're not wrong that his heritage isn't his fault. But honey, the past speaks for itself. He betrayed you once, and who's to say he won't again? We don't want you to end up hurt again, sweetie. I felt your heartbreak, back in '03. Do you really want to relive that?"

Kate exhaled steadily, and took a sip of her coffee, before meeting Phoebe's eyes.

"You don't know what happened between Nico and I back then," she said icily. "We're the only ones who know. And trust me, Nico was not the one at fault.

And if we're judging people by the actions of the Other selves, why the hell are Wyatt and I not in crystal cages? Believe me, Nico's crimes from that timeline don't compare to what Wyatt did. And I've never been a saint, trust me."

"Sweetie, that's different!" Phoebe insisted. "Wyatt's a completely different person in this timeline. He has no memory of what happened. Judging him for what happened then wouldn't be fair."

Not that the knowledge of him turning into a power-hungry dictator in another life hadn't affected their treatment of him, Phoebe acknowledged silently, with guilt. They'd always been stricter with him than the others. Not intentionally but...it was impossible not to be, especially after the mess with Vicus.

"And as for you, you only did what you had to do," she went on. "We understand why you did what you did. But Nico...he brought you back to be murdered. How can you forgive that? Can you really trust him?"

"More than anybody else," Kate stated with uncompromising conviction. "And he forgave me for abandoning him to Wyatt's non-existent mercy, so how can I not forgive him for giving in after months of torment? Because that's what happened, Phoebe. He was tortured brutally, for months and eventually he broke. Everyone does, eventually, in that situation, and anyone who claims otherwise is a fucking liar.

And the point is moot, anyway. It's not your decision whether I forgive him or not. It's not Mom's, or Dad's, or Aunt Paige's or Uncle Cole's. It's mine, and mine only. And I chose to forgive him, just like he chose to forgive me for not standing up to you the first time Mom made a snide comment about his heritage right in front of him.

I can get over how you treated me back in the past, even though literal demons have gotten kinder receptions, and I was only there to clean up the mess you guys created when you chose to put normality over protecting your child. Even though you never apologized, or even considered that I might need an apology until I said it to Dad.

But I can't forgive what you did to Nico. I don't have the right.

Like I said at dinner; if it's a choice between you guys and my husband, I choose the person who's stood by me for everything. The one who chose to put me first no matter what, the person who loves me for me, not for my last name. And that's something no Halliwell can have ever claimed. You've always loved me because I'm family, not because of who I am."

Phoebe opened her mouth to object to that claim, but Kate didn't give her the chance, continuing on unrelentingly.

"You have the right to disagree with my choice, but you don't have the right to change it, Aunt. So unless you're coming to tell me that you're sorry for everything and that you'll accept the man I love, then you need to stay away from me and Nico."

With that, Kate rose to her feet, grabbing the takeaway bag with her raspberry and white chocolate muffin and began to stalk away.

"Katy, wait!" Phoebe objected, grabbing her niece's wrist and finding herself unceremoniously thrown into a vision.

Kate was in the Manor attic, glaring venomously at the Charmed Ones. Wyatt stood at her side, looking just as angry as his sister, and very disappointed too.

"You three have pulled a lot of stunts over the years, but this has to have been the worst," Kate spat furiously, eyes flashing with fury.

"Katy, Peanut," Piper began, only to be interrupted sharply by her daughter.

"Don't you dare make any excuses, Piper! This is the last straw! I'm done forgiving you, apologies or not, and usually it's not! Nico and I are married, Mother!" She spat with word with so much disgust and contempt the three Charmed Ones flinched. They'd never heard her sound so furious.

"We have a child together, and another on the way!" Kate ranted on. "And yet, you still insist on trying to ruin our relationship! What right do you have to interfere with my love life? After everything that happened in my past life, don't I have the right to have my happy ending? And not have it ruined by my own so-called family casting a spell on me to force me into leaving the love of my life!

Well, no more, you understand me? No more! If you're going to bring magic into this, then so am I! With any luck, this will keep you far away from me and my family!

The Halliwell family I hereby foreswear,

Let none save Wyatt share air,

With me or mine,

From now until the end of time!"

The sisters gasped, but as soon as Kate finished chanting she had disappeared in a swirl of blue and white orbs, leaving Wyatt behind, looking at his mother and aunts with uncharacteristic coldness.

"Did she seriously just cast a spell to keep us away from her and her children?" Piper gasped, white as a sheet. "Wyatt, did you know she was planning to do this?"

"Yes, I knew," the Twice-Blessed confirmed curtly. "In fact, I told her it was a good idea and that she should use the power of the Nexus to ensure it worked."

The three sisters gasped in shock. "You what?" Piper demanded in clear betrayal. "Wyatt, how could you? We're your family! We're Kate's family! How could you support her cutting us all off from her?"

"How could you try to destroy her marriage?" Wyatt retorted bitterly. "I don't understand what's happened to you, Mom. You've become obsessed with splitting up Kate and Nico, no matter what the cost. Well, the cost is your relationship with my sister. And with me, because it's come to the point where I need to choose between you and Kate, and I have to choose my sister. I will always choose Kate. Just like she will always choose Nico.

Stay away from both of us, or I'll take it as an attack on my sister and retaliate. And don't forget, there's three and a half hundred people willing to lay down their lives for Kate, and they're fully prepared to retaliate too. Goodbye, Mom. Aunt Phoebe, Aunt Paige. I doubt we'll see each other for a long time, if ever."

With that, the blonde witchlighter disappeared in a swirl of lights, leaving the three sisters staring at the place where he'd been standing in wide-eyed shock.

Phoebe let out a gasp and released her niece's wrist. Kate was staring at her with that look that was so familiar from when she was their whitelighter, cool with concern flickering in her green eyes.

"What did you see?" She asked, sounding almost indifferent, but with a hint of worry lacing her tone, one Phoebe wouldn't have heard if she didn't get to know her niece back in 2004. "You're whiter than a sheet. Is someone going to die or something?"

Phoebe stared at her hard, trying to see. And there. A new, very slight curve on her stomach.

Kate was pregnant. Of course she wasn't going to choose her family over her baby and their father. This changed everything. If they kept going down this road, they'd lose Kate, Wyatt, and Kate's children.

"No," Phoebe answered slowly as she slowly digested the vision. "No, no one's going to die." She stood up quickly and, before Kate could duck away, pressed a kiss to her niece's cheek. "I need to talk to your mom. I'm going to fix this, Little Angel." She turned and hurried out of the coffee shop, determined to seek out her sisters and convince them that, unless they wanted their family to break up permanently, they were going to have to accept Nico.

They were going to have to finally let go of the grief and guilt they'd been denying they felt for a girl who hadn't truly died.