A/N: Will they, or won't they? Tell me what you think!
The Angels of Destiny very rarely interfered in mortal lives except in the case of very special individuals, and it seemed as if they were not done interceding on the Charmed ones or their lineage.
It was not an offer the Angel wanted to make; the chance for the newly constituted Charmed ones to give up their powers and lead a normal life. Sure, they had completed one destiny by vanquishing the Source of all Evil, but that of course would not be their only destiny.
Appearing in their home in a flicker of light, time suspended for everyone except these three women. Phoebe was quite obviously pregnant –though she was unaware of how much heartache her son would cause her or her family—and all three were resting comfortably on their couch having a much needed sister day. What a way to end their relaxation, the Angel thought.
"What's wrong with this dang remote," Paige said hitting the back where the batteries are located. "I just don't get it, why is the tv frozen?"
"Perhaps I can explain," the Angel interjected and the sisters jumped off the couch, backing away from the intruder.
Phoebe hissed at her older sister, "Blow him up, Piper!"
"I'm trying," she threw her hands out, "but it's not working."
"That would be because I am beyond your powers and pose no threat to you. I am the Angel of Destiny, and I have come to change yours if you so wish."
Phoebe soothed her baby's kicks by running her hand over her protruding bump and considered that. "How would it change?"
"Well," he considered, "your past innocents will remain safe and demons vanquished. No more will you have evil constantly barging in on your lives and you can all finally work toward your own personal destinies. Your children will of course inherit your powers, I must warn you so you can consider all of your options and the Book of Shadows will pass to them."
"Well the answer is easy of course. No," Paige spoke for all three.
"Hold on a second," Piper said. "We need to think about this."
"What's to think about," the youngest demanded. "Think of all of the good that we do!"
"And think of all the bad that has happened to us," Phoebe countered. "In case you forgot, I lost the love of my life to the Source of all Evil and am now going to raise my half witch and half demon child under constant guard against demonic threat of kidnapping."
"There's an easy solution to that," Paige replied. "We could bind his magic."
"And we could do that just as easily if we give up our powers," Piper said.
"Maybe I should give you some time to consider this," the Angel offered. "Twenty-four hours to decide your fate but be warned. Two sisters shall decide the fate of all three. Call me if you come to a decision earlier."
"Did he really just come in here and start this fight before waltzing off," Piper yelled.
"I still think you guys aren't thinking things through," Paige threw herself back onto the couch. "If having to vanquish Cole is the only thing you can think up to justify this—"
"Paige," Piper cut her off, "I can't get pregnant because of what we do. Those future descendants the Angel was talking about won't happen for me if we continue to fight."
"I'm sorry, but if it wasn't for magic I wouldn't have sisters right now. The same sisters who introduced me to all of the wonders of magic that exists all around us. How do we just give that up?"
"There's only one problem with what you said," Phoebe almost whispered. "If it wasn't for magic you would have always had your sisters, mom might still be alive and we wouldn't have lost Prue. You know, I thought she was crazy all those years ago when the demon Abraxas almost stole our powers because she wanted to give them up. But now I think she's right; what good is having these powers if we keep losing the people who matter the most to us; sacrificing our own lives so others don't have to defend themselves."
"Well," Piper said, "it's not like most of our innocents have powers to fight with. We can't forget all of the good friends we've met along the way. They wouldn't be here today if we didn't do what we do."
"And how many of them showed up to Prue's funeral," the middle sister countered.
"That's not fair, Pheebs. A lot of them didn't hear about her death right away. You know that. Maggie did send flowers and a condolence card," Piper reminded her.
"I can't pretend to know what Prue would think about this," Paige said, "but she obviously changed her mind about giving up her powers. That must mean she thought what we fight for; against is important."
Phoebe hung her head as tears produced in her eyes. "As much as I denied it; tried to show everyone I was my own person, I always tried to be just like Prue. I didn't care about the grades or the accomplishments as much, but her pride and her attitude and her confidence were what I admired. How did I go from wanting to be just like her, to wanting to avoid becoming her?"
"What do you mean," Piper asked.
"Remember when we vanquished the water demon at the lake; how Prue was afraid to be like mom?"
"Because Prue thought her only destiny was to end up like her; no successful love life, responsible for a family on her own and the very real possibility—"
"—of dying young," Phoebe said with her sister. "At the time we didn't think it was anything she would have to worry about but clearly we were wrong," she cried. "And now I'm here, at almost the same exact point in life that she was and I'm so afraid that I'm going to follow in her footsteps and leave my child alone for someone else to raise."
"We won't let that happen," Paige rubbed her back.
"You know as well as I do that destiny always gets it way. This is my only chance to decide what my destiny will be," Phoebe said and made her way to her room.
"You don't think the same thing, do you," Paige turned to Piper.
"On good days it's easy to overlook everything we've been through but there have been almost as many bad days, Paige. Sometimes it seems like our only destiny is to die. I need time to think about it. The angel gave us twenty-four hours and I'm going to use them," Piper passed her and walked to the stairs, heading to her room.