"You're up early." Piper commented when she saw Phoebe drinking a cup of coffee the next morning.
"I never went to sleep." Phoebe answered.
"Don't tell me you put on a black conical hat and spent the night flying around the neighborhood on a broomstick?" Piper tried to joke but she was still feeling uncomfortable over everything that had happened the night before and it showed.
"The only broom I've ever had was kept in a closet beside a mop."
"So what were you doing?" Piper asked, pouring her own cup of coffee.
"Reading. Is Prue around?"
"She went to work early. Reading aloud?" She glared slightly, whatever last night was about, it hadn't been fun, that was for sure.
"No. According to the Book of Shadows, one of our ancestors was a witch, named Melinda Warren."
"And we have a cousin who's a drunk that we haven't seen in years, an aunt who's manic, and a father who's invisible." She stood up, feeling restless, discussing the father they hadn't seen since they were kids was never a comfortable subject for any of them.
"I'm serious. She practiced powers. Three powers. She could move objects with her mind, see the future and stop time. Before Melinda was burned at the stake, she vowed that each generation of Warren witches would become stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters." She followed Piper out the door and toward her car. "Now, these sisters would be the most powerful witches the world has ever known. They're good witches and I think we're those sisters."
"Look, I know what happened last night was weird and unexplainable, but we're not witches and we do not have special powers. Besides, Grams wasn't a witch and as far as we know, neither was Mom." She got in her car and started it up.
"We're the protectors of the innocent. We're known as the Charmed Ones." She called out as Piper drove off heading for a job interview. "I think it sounds cool " Phoebe grinned and headed back inside, first a nap because she really had been up all night, after that...well, it wasn't like she could predict the future, she'd figure out the rest of her day later. Which ended up with deciding to take a ride on her bike because it was a gorgeous fall day. While she was enjoying the beautiful day Piper was preparing a dish as part of her interview for a chef position at the restaurant known as Quake.
"Your time is up." The Chef informed her in a very bad french accent as he entered the kitchen. "Let's see what you've got." He picked up an index card with the recipe she was making printed on it. "Roast pork with gratin of fennel and penne with a port giblet sauce."
"Chef Moore ..." Piper tried not to panic, but she wasn't done making it.
"What?" He asked impatiently.
"Uh, the port ..." She tried to explain but he cut her off.
"Yes, without it the sauce it is nothing more than a salty marinara. A recipe from a woman's magazine. Puh!" He scoffed.
"I didn't have time for-." He dug into the dish, ignoring her as her panic grew. Piper frantically waved her hands around and he just...stopped, he stood there like a statue. "Chef Moore? Chef Moore?" She waved her hand in front of his face, but got no response. "Hello? Hello? Huh." After a moment she accepted that he really was frozen and had no idea how. But hey, she still needed a job, the opportunity was right there...she picked up a baster and filled it with some port and proceeded to dribble some on Chef Moore's forkful of food. She pulled it back quickly as he unfroze and put the forkful of food in his mouth. 'Was this really happening? Or was she dreaming...oh, he's eating it.'
"Mmm ...this is very good. C'est magnifique." God, that was a horrible accent. 'Does this mean she got the job?'
"Phoebe, answer the phone. Answer the phone." Piper demanded as the phone rang endlessly, praying Phoebe had an answer for the strangeness the last half hour had been. Nope, no answer, she hung up and exited the phone booth, nearly bumping into a man as she did so. "Oh, God, Jeremy you scared me." She exclaimed as she realized it was her boyfriend.
"I can see that, I'm sorry. You okay?"
"Yeah, now I am. I really am. Um, what are you doing here?"
"Well, I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on your new job."
"You always surprise me. How did you know?"
"You prepared your specialty, and everyone who's ever sampled your work, can truly see how talented you are." He complemented her, the two drifted leisurely down the street discussing a favorite topic of both of their's, food, while Piper tried to ignore...whatever that was that had happened at her interview.
Meanwhile, Phoebe was enjoying her ride and the beautiful day when images began to flash in her mind, startling her, of two boys on rollerblades skating right in front of a car and getting hit by it. "What?' Seconds later she saw the boys and reacted without thinking by throwing herself and her bike in-between them and the car and falling hard on the ground, hitting her head. 'What just happened'?' was her last thought before blacking out.
In Sunnydale, the Scoobies headed for the Library and hoped Buffy's Watcher, Rupert Giles could help them figure out why the napkin Xander had been reaching for had caught fire, because this was the Hellmouth, it could figuratively, possibly literally, bite you in the ass. A quick thinking Buffy had dumped her can of pop on it, putting it out and the Scoobies had stared at the blackened napkin for a moment before deciding Giles needed to know.
"The Hellmouth strikes again, can we not get a day off?" Apparently not, both Murphy and the Hellmouth liked screwing with them too much, it seemed.