The future is never set, yet there are some things that can't be changed. It's a strange blur of black and white, as well as all of the shades of gray they make. Some shades are darker than others, almost as dark as evil. Others are so light you cannot tell their difference from white. Other possible futures are the perfect balance. Still, the future is unpredictable. No one knows what can and will change, and what can't ever be changed.
For most people the future and a person's ability to change it is never really an issue. No one knows what's coming before it hits them and everyone copes with things they can't change and have no control over. The Halliwells were not most people; especially since they were witches who wielded immense control over the outcomes of their lives and because they had a psychic in the family.
More than three hundred years ago the families' most famous ancestor, Melinda Warren, had prophesized the arrival of the charmed ones; three sisters who would be the most powerful witches the world had ever known. Like most prophecies, theirs was one that was well known in their magical circles. Like most prophecies, the telling was as deeply connected with the outcome so that it was impossible to tell which influenced which. Could it be that the knowledge of the prophecy created the circumstances that lead to Melinda's vision and the creation of the prophecy?
Had Melinda kept her vision to herself would life for the sisters have been different? Had Patty dared to brave the consequences of her illicit affair with Sam would the prophecy have ever been created or would it accommodate the addition of a fourth sister? When people have the ability to change the past and the future, the different shades of gray can blur to the point where it's impossible to tell the difference between light and dark.
The prophecy and lives of the Halliwell sisters were deeply connected with other magical beings. One such family that shared knowledge of the future was the Rowe coven. Just as the Warren line would culminate in the arrival of three sisters, the Rowe coven would culminate in the arrival of three brothers; the ultimate evil.
Brendan sat in the conservatory talking with Prue and Phoebe while Piper served tea. "Thank you," he said and brought his cup to his lips to taste. "I can't thank you all enough for what you've done for me. I just wish I might have been able to do something for Paul."
"He seemed to have really cared about you," Piper added. "He may have been a warlock but there was obviously a good part of him. You," she clarified.
"At least you know now how much you meant to him. You weren't just a means to fulfill the prophecy; you were his brother," Phoebe said.
"Yeah, I never realized that before it was too late. I know I couldn't have done anything for Greg, but Paul accepted me at a difficult time. I just wish he didn't have to die."
Prue sat across from Brendan. "What do you mean they accepted you at a difficult time?"
"I was the backup plan for the prophecy," he said looking into his tea. "We had another brother, Kaleb. He was the oldest boy. When he died during his initiation my father couldn't bear to see the end of the prophecy. Greg and Paul were still young, but their mother couldn't stand the idea of having another child after what happened to Kaleb. That's why my father impregnated a mortal woman. The prophecy just wasn't meant to be."
"I wonder what would have happened if we had another sister," Phoebe said daydreaming. "I mean, your dad did what he did intentionally to fulfill the prophecy but another sister would have meant not being charmed."
"Well, we don't have to worry about that," Piper said. "What we do have to worry about is the fact that Brendan skipped the ordination. How are we going to make sure he doesn't turn again?"
All heads looked at Prue. "I am going to create a stripping potion and try to target your warlock side. That way I don't accidentally vanquish you."
"Gee, thanks," Brendan laughed.
"C'mon let's call it a night. I'll walk you to your room," Prue said guiding Brendan up the stairs.
Phoebe and Piper sat in front of the fire and watched the two disappear. "Do you really think he's spending the night alone," Phoebe asked.
"Not a chance," Piper responded.
"You know, Father Austin would have let me stay at the church. You didn't have to bring me back here."
"I just want to make sure that you're safe until I can get you that stripping potion," Prue said.
"Are you sure that's it?" Brendan looked down into her eyes and Prue looked away.
"I should go get started on it. That way you don't have to wait around tomorrow, and you can go back to the church." She stepped around him to head for the door when he grabbed her arm and turned her.
Both held their breath while they waited for one of them to have the courage to make the next move. Stepping towards her, he leaned down and kissed her.
Weeks passed by after Brendan's powers were stripped and he and Prue were still seeing each other. Brendan continued to volunteer at the church and stables and accepted a position at a private catholic school as a youth minister and philosophy teacher.
Prue and Andy were still on friendly terms though she had to admit that she missed him. He was her first love and that was always going to be special for her. When Leo reappeared and the sisters needed help finding Daisy, Andy had tracked her down and helped them protect her. When Rodriguez targeted the sisters, Andy had sacrificed himself so that they could still protect the greater good.
Still, as time moved on, the sisters changed. Piper quit her job and opened P3, Phoebe decided to go back to school, and Prue was wrestling with her decision to keep her cushy job or actually do something for herself and try to make it as a photographer. Only Brendan knew that she was thinking about it, but she didn't want to mention it to her sisters unless it actually seemed like a realistic possibility.
Piper and Leo were struggling to make their relationship work and the arrival of neighbor Dan interfered; Prue and Brendan were trying to work on themselves without outgrowing each other, and Phoebe was still trying to make something of herself. Before they knew it, eight months had passed since Prue and Brendan had originally crossed each others paths.
Prue sat at a table, looking at the docks and the water they led to; water that was responsible for her mother's death almost twenty years ago.
In her memory the sirens blared at top volume. Prue, only about eight years old, looked down the dock and saw her mother lying motionless on the dock as police and medics handled the situation.
"Third drowning this year," the medic said.
The investigator turned to look at him. "Anyone see it happen?"
"Is that her little girl," another Detective asked. "Get her away from here. We don't want her to see her mom like this."
"Mommy," she cried not fully understanding why her mother wasn't opening her eyes.
"Are you Prue? Your Grams said we'd find you. Why don't you come back inside with me, okay?"Picking her up, he walked her away from the scene.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
Prue is pulled from the memory as her phone goes off. Looking at the caller ID she knew it was Piper. "Hello?"
"Prue, are you still on the road?"
"Oh, yeah, traffic's insane."
"Some guy called from Bucklands. I thought you'd be back from the estate sale already. I was just calling to see if you and my car were okay."
"Yeah, we're fine," she said as a beep was heard on the line.
"Oh, that's um, that's probably Dan."
"You know, he does live like twenty feet away. You guys could get walkie talkies, two cans, a string."
"Point taken, mom."
"Um, alright, go talk to your boy, I'll see you later."
Hanging up, Prue stared at the water before starting to make her way down the dock. Coming to the edge, she sees a police officer in a canoe and the water starts bubbling next to it. Prue runs along the edge of the water as he is blown into the water and struggles to stay afloat when a strange man stops her from helping.
"No, it's too late. It's already taken him."
" Just call 911," she tells him and the man runs off.
Back at the manor, Prue walked into the kitchen to a nauseatingly cute conversation between Piper and Dan, and Phoebe's mocking.
"Prue, what are you doing home? You told Piper that you were heading into the office."
"Yeah, things changed," she said in a tone that clearly indicated that there was some situation going on.
"Uh, Dan, I have to call you back, okay."
Prue pounded one hand into the other as she tried to find a way to reveal her news. "Okay, I saw something or someone drown and it was anything but natural."
Piper was confused. "On the freeway?"
"No, up at the lake."
Phoebe had a sour look on her face. "Oh, wait a minute. The lake as in the lake, where mom was killed?"
"You said you were stuck in traffic," Piper said.
"Yeah, I was after the lake. I just go there sometimes to think."
"You never told us that," Phoebe accused.
"Because I didn't want to make a big deal about it. Anyway, this isn't about mom, alright. I saw someone get pulled under. I tried to help him but this man stopped me and said 'Its already taken him.'"
"Do you think he knows what happened," Piper asked.
"Could," she replied and the sisters made their way up to Prue's room. "Which means I need to get to Bucklands to drop stuff off and get back to that lake."
"Wait a minute, Prue, aren't you kind of missing the point? How can you think that whatever you saw didn't have something to do with how mom died," Phoebe cried.
"Look, we need to stop worrying about the past and start dealing with the present. They're re-opening camp."
"I thought they closed it the summer that mom…" Phoebe broke off mid sentence.
"Exactly. And no one has been allowed in the lake since and if there's something in it, killing, then the last thing we need is a lake full of kids."
"Well, how do we find the guy that stopped you?"
"What about the woman who used to run the camp," Piper said jumping in. "Mrs. Johnson. If she's still up there, she'll probably know who he is."
"She's still there, same cabin."
Phoebe turned to give Prue a look. "I guess you go up there to think a lot," she said with attitude.
"I'll meet you guys up at the lake. I should be there in an hour," Prue told them before leaving.
"Do you really think the things she saw has nothing to do with how mom died," Phoebe asked.
"Nope. You?"
"Not a chance."
Phoebe and Piper sat in Mrs. Johnson's cabin as they tried to get information about the man that Prue saw.
"Well, I'm finding it hard to believe enough times gone by for you to of grown up so much. Here," she said handing Piper the plate of cookies.
"Aww, look at little Prue. Nice pigtails Piper," Phoebe joked.
"Not fair."
"No, what's not fair is that I never got to go to camp with you guys," she said grabbing the plate from Piper.
"Um, we heard you were thinking of opening up the camp again," Piper said to Mrs. Johnson.
"Oh, was. I thought it was over and then today another drowning. I can't ask the campers to go swimming in the lake when…" Mrs. Johnson let that thought trail off.
Piper thought about her mom again. "Um, we were wondering if you might help us with something. Prue was up here the other day and she mentioned a man, um, older, a bit off."
"I think the word that she used was crazy."
Piper gave Phoebe a reproving look. "We were wondering if you might know who he is."
"Oh, Sam. Only one it could be. The man's not wired together properly. He showed up when the drownings started. He just stayed here, no friends, no life of his own. You know, with someone like that, you have to wonder what he's capable of."
Outside, Prue arrived at the camp and was making her way up to the cabin. Glancing at the lake, Piper, Phoebe and Mrs. Johnson walk up to her.
"Mrs. J., you remember my sister, Prue."
"Oh, Prue, of course I do. It's good to see you," she said hugging her old camper. "Wow! You're looking more and more like your mother every day."
Turning her head down, she deflected the compliment. "Um, actually it's Piper who resembles her the most," she said followed by an awkward silence.
"People see a little of her in each of us, I think," Phoebe said taking control of the conversation.
"Of course. Will you come see me again? The old broad gets lonely up here. I love to see my campers."
Piper turns her attention back to the older woman. "Sure."
They said their goodbyes and Mrs. Johnson made her way back to her cabin.
"She's not opening the camp, Prue," Piper said.
"Really, so that means it's just between us and what ever's hiding in that lake. Any word on that crazy guy?"
Phoebe filled her in. "His name is Sam and he lives right…" Phoebe was cut off by the ringing of Prue's phone.
"Hello, this is Prue."
"Hey, how's my favorite auctionette," Jack responded. He had been annoying Prue ever since they had sparred at an auction. He had only backed off when Brendan had made it known that Prue was taken.
"Fine, how's my favourite auction-ass?"
"Ooh, nice one. Hey, listen, I just wanted to let you know that since you're not here, I'm gonna take your twelve o'clock lunch with Mr. Fugimotto."
"Ah, no, no, no. Wait, Mr. Fugimotto is very particular."
"Prue, would your relax. I will take great care of your client okay. Later."
"I just cannot figure out what this guy's deal is."
Piper cocked her head to the side. "That's funny, we were just gonna ask you the same thing."
"Excuse me?"
Phoebe took her turn to confront her eldest sister. "Every time someone compares you to mum you flinch. It's a compliment, not a curse."
"Is it? Because every single day, I feel like I'm becoming more and more like her and everyday it terrifies me."
"Prue," Piper said with sympathy.
"I mean, don't you guys see it? Look at what happened to her and then look what's happening to me. No successful relationship with guys, being responsible for a family, now because of being this charmed thing, the very real possibility of dying young, it's like history is repeating itself."
"Prue, what about Brendan. You have love in your life, and the other stuff is just…" Piper trailed off.
"Coincidence? I thought that we had figured out that nothing is a coincidence in our lives. Like me being here when that thing attacked, it's like I was meant to be here."
"Well, you're not exactly meant to be here when you're here every week."
"Alright, look, I just wanna find this Sam guy, see what he knows about the demon, vanquish it and get on with our lives."
"Sam," Phoebe called out. "Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting demons."
" I guess he's not home," Piper said.
Looking through old newspapers, Prue comes across a picture of their mother. "Oh my."
"What? What is it," Piper asked.
Prue stood there; flabbergasted. "What is he doing with a picture of her?"
"Who is this guy?"
"Or what," Phoebe supplied.
Rummaging through the newspapers Prue came to a realization."Okay, he has articles on every single drowning at the lake."
"New York teacher of the year, Sam Wylder. In 1872?" Piper looked between her two sisters.
"Okay, so this guy is either 127 years old or…" Phoebe said waiting for someone to make a suggestion.
"A demon," Piper replied.
"Named Sam," Prue said in disbelief. "A demon named Sam? I mean, can't it be his grandfather's certificate? After all, he did save me."
Piper ruffled through drawers trying to find something that would let them know what they were dealing with. "What are these? I found... Whoa! Leo, hi, what are you doing here?"
Leo orbed in, panicked. "Come on, we gotta get outta here. Sam could be back at any minute."
"Wait, you know Sam," Prue questioned him.
"Come on, we gotta…"
" We are not going anywhere until you tell us what you know. Who is Sam?"
"Sam was your mum's Whitelighter."
Leo explained the situation to the sisters before leaving in a fit of awkward tension between him and Piper.
"Why you're acting like all of this doesn't phase you, Prue. We are talking about how our mother was killed," Phoebe said and a scream pierced the air.
"Is that Mrs. Johnson," Piper asked. Piper and Phoebe run on to the dock while Prue stands near the edge.
"Your hand, give me your hand," Phoebe yelled. "Prue, what are you doing? We need you!"
"Get off the dock! It's her! It's taken her over," Sam yelled as he ran to the sisters.
"Get off the dock now! Why didn't you listen to me? I told you to stay away from the lake. It only kills in the water. Why didn't you listen to me? Nobody ever listens."
"We know who you are." Prue walked up to Sam to come face to face with him.
"You shouldn't listen to people in town, they'll just tell you I'm crazy but I'm not."
"We know you worked with our mother," Piper said coldly.
"And lost her," Phoebe added.
"I knew you'd come. I knew it. And then when I saw you…it's in your eyes, your mother."
"You have no right talking about her. You lost that right when you lost her. Why are we dealing with him," Phoebe asked.
"Because we need to know what he knows," Piper answered. "Sam, you have to tell us about the demon."
"No, no, you can't fight this thing. It's under water but it has a … it-it thinks. You never know where it's gonna be, who it's gonna be. Sometimes it takes over its victim's bodies to lure you to the water. Sometimes it doesn't. Leave now, please! Forget you ever came here. Forget you ever knew."
Prue looks at Sam in disbelief. "How can we do that? I mean, it's out there killing. We can't just walk away."
"You really wanna know what I know? I know you're not strong enough or well versed enough in your powers to take this thing on. I know that you have the same power as your mother," he said to Piper. "The power to freeze. And you know what happened when she tried to use it." He turned to Prue. "And I know you'll let your emotions get in the way, you'll lose focus and you'll lose your life. That's what I know."
Prue wore her no nonsense face. "Well, you obviously don't know us that well because we're not leaving."
"Strong, willful, just like Patty."
"I'm nothing like my mother," Prue hissed and her sisters recoiled from her words.
"But you're here. Just like she was."
"But we'll beat it. Now, you have one choice. You can either get on board or get the hell out of the way."
"The power of three. Okay, okay. If you're gonna do this then you're gonna need me to help you."
"Alright, enough of this. How do we kill it?"
"You don't," he said and turned to face them; blowing dust in their faces. "Now, you're gonna go home and you're gonna go directly to bed. Then when you wake up tomorrow you will not remember coming to the lake, or discovering the demon, or meeting me. I can't let it happen again."
Twenty-four hours later, Leo arrived at the manor to find the sisters completely unaware of the events of the day before. Piper, who woke up with poison ivy was home with Leo, while her sisters went back to the camp. Prue left Phoebe to take care of the campers who had just arrived while she returned to Sam's shed.
"I knew I should've given you a stronger dose."
"Not only did you put my sisters and me in danger but you risked innocents lives. How could you?"
"I did what I had to do to protect you and your sisters."
"Not . All these years. How could you just sit here and watch them die? People that you were meant to protect."
"Well, in case you didn't get the memo, I'm not one of the good guys anymore."
"Part of you is. Part of you always will be."
"I've done nothing but make your life difficult. What makes you so sure?"
"Because you saved me. You still have Whitelighter instincts Sam. You may have clipped your wings but this still gets you, it matters."
"I can't find anything," Leo said as Piper folded laundry.
"Well, then you don't have to stay with me. Looks of sympathy are not part of your job description."
"No."
"Um, why didn't your healing touch work? I mean, what, you can save a life but you can't cure poison ivy?"
" It's not really up to me. I can only heal when they allow me to, when I'm meant to."
"Well, why weren't you meant to help me? Why wouldn't I be meant to help my sisters?"
"There's always a reason. Maybe you're meant to be here."
Going through the pockets of the clothes she was folding, Piper found the love letters she had come across the day before. "Dear Sam? Leo."
"What is it?"
"Letters that my mom wrote to Sam. I must've forgotten about them because of the powder. "Dear Sam, Where are you? It's been two weeks since you were last here and I wonder are you alright. Do they have you off guiding someone? And I wonder when they will send you back to San Francisco. To me.""
"Is this a…"
"A love letter," Piper said not believing what she was seeing.
Leo and Piper appeared at the lake in front of Prue, Phoebe, and Sam.
"Whoa, that felt really…alright, oh, laying down now," Piper said tumbling back into a chair.
"What are you doing here," Prue asked them.
"He loved her."
"What? Who loved who? What is she talking about," Phoebe rambled.
"Sam," Leo answered. "Found the letters, Sam."
"Patty and I…"
"Fell in love," Piper finished for him.
"In the letters she told you to stay away. Not to go to the lake," Leo said.
"But I did. I wouldn't have for anyone else. But I should've followed the rules, not fallen in love. I never would've been there. I never would've distracted her and she never would've died."
Phoebe looked at Sam. "You loved her and you blame yourself."
"Don't you blame me? Every day I wake up and for just a second, just a second I think maybe it didn't happen. Yes, I blame myself."
"We have to see past our emotions to deal with this, Sam. So do you," Prue told him.
"Even so, it doesn't change the fact that I didn't see it happen. I tried to warn her and she froze me."
Leo looked at him. "Why?"
"Because she was trying to protect him." Piper looked at Leo, trying to communicate that she knew how her mother felt. That Piper knew where her mother was coming from.
"Protecting was supposed to be my job. I couldn't help her, I don't know how I can help you, I didn't see what happened."
"I know somebody who can see anything," Prue said.
"Oh, no," Phoebe said. "Wait a minute. You tiptoe around the subject of mum, you deny looking like her, you can't even go to the end of that dock because you're afraid to walk in her footsteps and now you want me to relive her last moments? How is that fair?"
"It's not. None of this is. Mom's death, Sam's guilt. But I'm asking you to help me end it."
Phoebe hesitated as she walked towards Sam and offered him her hands. As their hands touched, Phoebe was pulled into a violent premonition. Patty was on the dock, hurrying to put her plan into motion.
"Patty, look out!" Sam raced down to meet her.
Patty froze him and turned to see the water demon rose up in a wave of water; crushing her as it entered and drowned her. As she came out of the vision, Phoebe coughed from the water that had snuffed her mother's life.
"Did you see her," Piper asked.
"It entered her and it drowned her from the inside."
"Phoebe, in your vision, what was mom doing," Prue said hoping to have a plan ready.
"She was using something on the dock. Some... a wire?"
Leo looked at the dock. "Power cable?"
"Makes sense," Piper said. "Electricity is the only thing that separates water particles"
"So, what do we do differently," Phoebe wondered.
"Maybe nothing." Prue turned to Sam. "Sam, would mom's plan have worked if she had finished it?"
"Absolutely."
"But you said her power, my power, doesn't work against this demon," Piper piped in.
Phoebe snorted. "So that's it. We use mom's plan with one difference. The witch at the end of the dock is not gonna be the one with the power to freeze."
"It's gonna be me," Prue said.
"Forgot how good this feels," Sam said as the group prepared to put the water demon to rest.
"Really? How's it feel to be mortal?"
"Why would you want to know?" Sam turned to look at Leo before understanding set in. He clapped him on the back and went to Prue.
"Let's go face our demons," Sam said and escorted her down the dock.
"Okay, you in the water. I know that you've been waiting for this. For me. Well, here I am, so come and get me. You took what matters most to me and as long as I live, you will never kill again."
"Prue, behind you," Piper screamed. She and Phoebe ran to get to their sister.
" Piper, wait!" Leo ran after Piper, who turned and froze him in place.
" No! Not her! Take me," Sam yelled as the water demon rose up from the lake. "Stay back!"
Sam picked up the cable cords and screamed, "now!"
Prue used her telekinesis to flip the switch, sending electric shocks through Sam as water molecules exploded in bursts of steam rolling off his body. Seeing no more evaporation, Prue turned off the switch. "No, Sam."
Phoebe and Piper reach them as Leo unfroze.
" It's gone, it's gone," Sam mumbled.
Phoebe was crying. "Leo, do something."
"What," Prue shouted as Leo was unable to heal the man. "Why isn't anything happening?"
"Because it's not meant to," Piper explained.
"It's okay, it's time to go," Sam said lying in Prue's arms.
"No," Prue replied.
"I did what I've been waiting to do, I kept it from happening. History won't repeat itself."
"But you're going…" Phoebe cried.
"I'm gonna see Patty again," he said before turning to Leo. "Don't lose her. Patty? Patty?"
The girls turned to look for their mother, but she didn't appear for them to see.
"Say hi for me, for us," Prue said and Sam passed away.
Phoebe, Prue and Piper sat in the living room where Phoebe was creating a journal out of their mother's love letters. "At least fighting this demon came with a consolation prize. I mean, it didn't bring mom back but these brought her closer."
"It's a good idea, Pheebs. Making a journal out of mom's letters," Piper said.
"Yeah, not as good as the real thing though."
"Nothing is." Leo Um, te appeared in a swirl of bright blue lights, catching Piper's sight. "You want some tea? I'm gonna go get some."
"Sure."
As Piper left the room there was a knock at the front door. "I'll get it," Prue said and opened the door to see Brendan. She stepped into his arms and rested her head under his chin. They stood there for a minute before withdrawing from the embrace.
"Uh, Pheebs…we're going to hang out upstairs, okay?"
"Have fun," she giggled getting at the point.
"Hi, Pheebs," Brendan said in a sing songy voice.
The couple made their way to Prue's room where they embraced again behind closed doors. "Are you okay?"
"I've always been the strong one; the protector. I couldn't protect them today. I just kept hurting them."
"How? How did you hurt them?"
"I'm so afraid of turning out like my mother. Alone, the responsibility of caring for a family, as well as the possibility of dying young terrifies me. I can't bring myself to be like her."
"Hey," he said taking her chin in his hand so she was forced to look in his eyes. "You're not alone," he said and kissed her. "Your sisters –and me I might add—will also help care for this family," he added and kissed her again. "And you're not going to die young. Your sisters and I won't allow it," he finished and kissed her again. He pushed her back until she fell on the bed and the two laid there in each other's arms.
"I love you," Brendan told her.
Prue looked up at him. It was the first time either had said those words in front of the other. "I love you, too."