POWER OF FOUR: ATTACK OF THE BROTHERHOOD

[vandergraafk]

Chapter One


Annoyed by the unending line of cars up and down Van Ness Avenue, Paige had simply had enough. She had been stressed out all day as she went from one office to another trying to help out one of Henry's parolees who was about to be evicted from his skidrow apartment because the Veteran's Administration had messed up his benefit check. No one could provide a clear answer or cough up the missing money. Her bag of tricks exhausted, Paige just wanted to get home. Traffic or no traffic, something would get done expeditiously and correctly. Spotting an open parking spot, Paige slid her green beetle into the space, dashed from the car, took refuge in an alley and orbed home. Or, so she thought.

Typical of the bad luck Paige was having all day, she got caught in a demonic time-shift. A powerful demon or were the Avatars playing with time again, Paige didn't know and didn't much care, except that she knew something was amiss. The place she orbed into did not bear the familiar comforts of home. It was rather rundown and reminded her of the way this part of San Francisco looked before urban renewal had come to this street.

"Oh great, I know I'm in the past, but when?" Paige wondered. She quickly decided to orb to the manor. There, at least, she might find her sisters. "Besides," Paige mused, "Piper always has an explanation!"

Paige orbed into an empty attic in the manor. It was empty in the sense that none of her sisters was present. Going downstairs to the sun room, Paige expected to run into one of her sister's at least. But no one was home. A calendar in the kitchen, that she had peeked into, indicated that the year was 2000. Was it the same November day - only ten years earlier - as it was when Paige orbed away? She couldn't tell since the calendar was more artful than useful. Bright colors and representative seasonal scenes embroidered the towel like calendar that contained all of the months for the year 2000.

"Well, at least I'm sure it's the year 2000," mused Paige. "But, how I am going to explain my presence and my powers to my sisters. First thing I gotta do is change me." Instantly, she glammed into a tall, leggy brunette. "Well, at least they won't easily recognize me when we are finally introduced."

Before she could work on her cover story further, Paige heard the door to the manor swing open. The rapid footsteps quickly brought Phoebe into view, a Phoebe she had seen before during a previous time travel, but one with whom she had no previous experience.

Spotting the intruder, Phoebe clenched her fists and adopted a defensive posture. "Demon or innocent," worried Phoebe.

As the one Charmed One without mastery of an active power, Phoebe was the most at risk, even though she had excelled at her self-defense classes. She had just recently experienced a new power: the power to levitate and fly. But, she certainly had not had enough time to master this new power before it was taken from her. Would she get this power back? It might come in handy. Fortunately, Paige, the unknown visitor to the manor, did not seem to pose a threat. But demons can be deceiving, Phoebe knew all too well.

"Okay, who are you? And why are you in our house?" Phoebe sternly demanded.

"I'm your cousin - from the future", Paige meekly replied. "And a sister witch."

"Says who?" Phoebe shouted.

"Me, Pamela. Look, Phoebe, I know this is going to sound strange. But, excuse me if I'm not too good at the whole family history thing. My grandmother and your grandmother were related - a first or second cousin thing, I think. I met you and your sisters when I came to graduate school at the University of San Francisco. I was here to get my master's degree in ..." Paige paused in order not to give any useful information away. "to get my master's degree in mathematics. I got sidetracked from my studies after a demon attacked me and you, Piper and Prue came to my rescue. After that, we became pretty close friends until I returned to Boston after completing my degree."

Though she didn't like to lie, she remembered the first rule from the whitelighter handbook: Always have a good cover story ready. Over the past several years, as she had looked after many charges in diverse parts of the world, she had gotten really good at coming up with good cover stories. So far, this one was shaping up to be pretty good, too. At least, she hoped so.

"Listen, Phoebe, I know this is a whole bunch to dump on you like this, but I'm not here to cause trouble. I've accidentally orbed into another time or maybe even another reality. I want to go home to my husband and twin daughters. I'm definitely not here to mess with you or the past."

"Look. I don't know who you are, but Prue and Piper will be home soon and we'll have to sort this out. I just hope you are not a demon."

"Okay, I am cool with that, but could you tell me what year it is, and what the date is. I've got to at least know this."

"Fair enough, I suppose. It's April 30, 2000."

"Uh, oh," Paige accidentally let slip. It's not easy to maintain a flawless cover story.

"What do you mean by uh oh," Phoebe wanted to know.

"Well, I am trying to remember, but have you run into a Deputy Disrict Attorney named Cole Turner," Paige asked.

"Cole, who?" Phoebe replied.

"Cole Turner," Paige repeated.

"No, I can't say that I've ever met a Cole Turner. Should I know him?"

"Nah, he was just the Deputy District Attorney who dealt with the demonic attack on me. Only he didn't know the guy was a demon. I'm only trying to get my time bearings set." Paige felt a sigh of relief course through her body, as she said to herself, "Nice job. But, I gotta be very, very careful."

Just then, Piper entered the manor and headed toward the kitchen. Hearing voices in the sun room, Piper made a detour and headed there. "Hi, Phebes," Piper chimed. "And who are you, another Innocent, I suppose."

"Not quite," Phoebe replied. "Sit down, Piper, you're not going to believe this. Apparently, this girl, Pamela is her name, might just be a distant cousin of ours - from back East. I don't quite know whether to believe her, but she's got an interesting story to tell."

Without hesitation, Piper called out to her boyfriend, Leo. Leo orbed in prompty and kissed Piper. "What's up, Piper," Leo wanted to know. "Weren't we supposed to see each other later. I was with a charge. But, of course, if it's a demonic emergency..."

"No emergency - and it's good to see you, too, "Piper lovingly replied. "We've got a visitor, one who claims to be from the future."

"And a distant cousin." Phoebe added.

"And a sister witch," Paige chipped in.

"Wait a minute. Slow down. Not all of you at once." Leo pleaded. "I suppose I could go ask the Elders, but if she's from the future, they won't be of much help at all."

"Figures," sneered Piper. "When you need them, they're useless. And when you don't want them interfering, they're relentless."

"Now wait, Piper, be fair." Leo interjected. "The Elders are on the side of Good, and they have a lot of insights to offer."

"Yeah, and they make up a bunch of thingyamamie rules that make us have to sneak around like a bunch of high school students," Piper retorted.

"Uh, guys, can we get back to future girl," Phoebe inquired wistfully.

"Well, there's not much I can do. And, like I said, the Elders are not going to be a source of help, if she really is from the future."

"All I want to do is get back to my time so I can spend some time with my husband Henry and my twin girls," Paige ventured.

"You have kids," Phoebe sighed. "How sweet!"

"If she is a sister witch, then maybe I could confirm this by asking her whitelighter."

"Dammit,' Paige mumbled to herself. "How can I say that Leo is my whitelighter?" To Leo, Paige replied, "At the moment, I am sort of without a whitelighter. I know, I know that sounds weird, but my original whitelighter, Sam, when kind of on a binge. He sort of gave up his wings. Later, after I get to meet you, I get re-assigned to you."

"Sam? Wasn't Mom's whitelighter, Sam?" Phoebe recalled.

"Of course, Phoebe, we just met him," Piper reminded her sister.

"Yeah, I know. What I mean is: you don't mean our Sam, do you?" Phoebe wished to know.

"Well, I don't know who you're Sam is, but my Sam turned out to be a two-time loser and a drunk. Is that your Sam?"

"Not really," Phoebe replied. "The last time we saw our Sam, he was heading off with our mom into the spirit world."

Paige sensed that Piper and Phoebe were growing more comfortable with the visitor from the future. She worried though that too many more questions would be forthcoming, ones that might cause Paige to let something slip, something that might alter her timeline.

Before she could entertain such thoughts any further, the door to the manor opened and shut as Prue entered. "Oh boy," Paige thought. "Here we go."

Ever since she had met her two half-sisters, Paige had heard glowing stories about Prue. How Prue was the best. How she really took the craft seriously. Were she and Prue going to get along? Or, would it be another version of Prue versus Phoebe? After all, Phoebe and Paige were very much alike and clicked on a level that she and Piper were never quite able to achieve. Both she and Phoebe had been misfits in high school. Both seemed headed for Loserville. Yet, both had managed to survive high school and thrive. Paige found her path as a social worker after the death of adopted parents in a horrific car crash had helped Paige gain a sense of purpose in life. For Phoebe, moving away to New York and trying to survive on her own had at least put paid to the rebel in her. Yet, both Phoebe and Paige maintained that independent spirit that at times threatened to cast every rule out the window. And, it was just that independent spirit that nearly drove Prue to despair. Prue was the driven one. She had already achieved immense acclaim and success at Buckland's auction house. Ever since she had struck out on her own as a freelance photographer, Prue had gained even more acclaim. There was seemingly nothing that Prue could not do.

Entering the sun room after hearing voices from the foyer and seeing the unknown visitor, Prue inquired. "Piper, Phoebe, Leo, what's going on? Did I miss something?" Prue let on as if lecturing children who had been up to no good.

Phoebe looked at Piper and hoped that Piper would speak up, if only to deflect Prue's attention away from herself. Prue was always quick to criticize Phoebe. Phoebe never locks the front door. Phoebe never fills the gas tank up to my Beemer. Phoebe never pays attention to street cleaning signs. Phoebe this, Phoebe that! Phoebe certainly felt that she would be blamed for Paige's presence, too.

Just as Phoebe had hoped, Piper spoke up. "Prue, it seems that we have been visited by a distant cousin from the future. Her name is Pamela. And, she claims she is a sister witch."

"Let me get this straight," Prue replied. "This girl, Pamela, is from the future. She claims she is a sister witch. So, does she have any special powers?"

"Unh, we didn't quite get that far, yet," Phoebe replied. "We were just beginning to learn about who she was. We never got to what, when, how or why."

"Okay, so Pamela," Prue queried, "If you are a sister witch, what can you do? If you are someone special as Phoebe and Piper seem to believe, show us what you can do?"

And with that, Paige called out for the bag of groceries that Piper had set down on the table in the sun room while the interrogation of Paige had been proceeding apace. As the bag of groceries disappeared in a swirling circle of blue and white lights and reappeared in Paige's arms, the Charmed Ones were awestruck.

Phoebe was the first to break silence. "Seems to me like she got's some special powers."

"Pretty impressive," Piper added.

"Explain," Prue stated firmly.

"Well, my mom and her whitelighter had an affair. Mom got pregnant. But before the Elders found out, mom and her whitelighter broke off the affair. After I was born, my grandmother and mom placed me under the protection of a Boston area church. The sisters there took good care of me and eventually found me a really good home. I had two really cool parents."

"Sounds a bit like what happened between our Mom and her whitelighter too. But, as far as we know they didn't have any children," Prue replied. "But, wait a minute . . . Leo, can whitelighters and witches have children? Aren't whitelighters dead?"

Before Leo could reply, Prue kept her eye on Paige and added, "Uh, your mom was a witch, right?"

Leo shrugged his shoulders and wanted desperately to avoid the question. But, he knew that Prue would be unrelenting. Before replying he glanced quickly at Piper to gain some modicum of support. None seemed forthcoming, however, as Piper wasn't even taking the hint. Without further delay, Leo blurted out, "Well, yes, whitelighters are technically dead. But, when we corporealize on Earth we can feel pain and experience the full range of human emotions. And, ummmm, I guess male whitelighters could father children. But, Paige is sort of different. It doesn't seem like she died to become a whitelighter, but was born one. I haven't heard of that ever happening before. So, beats me."

Piper cast a snarling glance at Leo. After all, Prue and Phoebe both knew that Piper and Leo were, umm, having intimate relations. Could they one day have children, too? Magical children, no less? Before Piper could break silence, however, Prue quickly blurted back, "So, it's possible that this girl really is a sister witch. If that's true, how did she get here and why? And how do we get her back?"

"Yeah, those are my questions, too," Paige noddingly replied. "As cool as it is to finally meet you Prue, I really need to get back home. Henry will worry, and who's gonna help Henry with the twins."

"You have twins," Phoebe sighed again, but this time her sigh revealed a longing on her part. "Are they magical, too."

"Not exactly," Paige noted with some resignation. "Henry is mortal, and the Elders haven't given the girls any major powers yet. I guess being half-witch, half-whitelighter causes problems when passing along powers. Then again, they are only two years old."

Seeking to reclaim the conversation for her own enlightenment, of course, and to keep her sisters focused, Prue pressed on. "Okay, what were you doing just before you found yourself in our time.?"

Paige recounted her frustration at the horrible day she had had trying to help one of Henry's parolees. She told the sisters how she had just had enough with the traffic and had decided to orb home instead.

"Personal gain," Prue interjected. "That's it. You used your powers for personal gain and this is one of the backfires. Do you see Phoebe this is why I have to keep telling you and Piper not to use your powers for personal gain."

Phoebe rolled her eyes anticipating yet another lecture from Prue. What was it this time: using a premonition to prepare for her psychology final exam. (At least, Prue doesn't know about that, or does she.) Or, was Prue going to dredge up yet again her part-time work as a mind-reader. Will it ever end?

But, as Phoebe let these thoughts swirl through her mind, Paige jumped in. "No, Prue, that can't possibly be true. I often orb to work. I am usually late as it is, and my boss is always on my case about the long lunch hours. But just try raising twins. Orbing just made the stress a little bit more bearable. Why should orbing home be any different?"

"Besides, there are lots of other things that could have happened," Paige continued. "Once I sneezed my way into another plane of reality. I've dealt with demons and non-demons alike who had the ability to reset time. There are lots of possible explanations. I'd just like to know what caused me to end up here. The only thing certain is that I didn't cast a spell to get here. So, I know that I can't cast another spell to get back."

"You sneezed your way into another plane of existence?" Piper repeated.

"Well, yeah, I caught a cold while fighting a demon and whenever I sneezed, I orbed. Believe me, it wasn't my idea."

Leo just looked on. Without even saying it, the sisters knew that "Beats me" probably would have been his reply.

Prue, however, reflected on Paige's response and realized that maybe her warning about personal gain might have been a bit premature. She added, "Well, we've gone back through time to save ourselves from a warlock."

"Yes, and I remember when you summoned Melinda Warren to fight off a demon that some demons at Bucklands had conjured to attack you, Piper and Phoebe." Paige added. To herself she noted that giving the sisters some information absolutely had to be done, if only to convince them that she, Paige, was no threat.

Paige continued, "And during my time in San Francisco, I had a tough and demanding teacher. Piper expected me to study the Book of Shadows thoroughly and to learn the use and misuse of every herb in the wiccan cupboard. But, like I said, those were spells that were cast. And, I didn't cast any such spell."

Piper smiled and looked a bit puzzled. "She was a teacher, teaching Paige magic? How could she that be? Wasn't I the most reluctant of the sisters to embrace the Charmed legacy," Piper wondered.

"And it could be, too, that I got caught up in a time portal. I've had some experience with these - in the future. Maybe I orbed into a time portal. The Elders, some powerful demon, who knows who could have opened a time portal."

"Tempus?" Piper asked inquisitively.

"Didn't we vanquish his sorry ass," Phoebe replied.

"Uh, no," Paige replied. "You simply weakened him considerably. With your limited powers at the time, there was no way you could have vanquished Tempus."

"That could be," Leo mused. "Your powers are growing. And, Tempus was two years ago, when you were just learning to master your Charmed powers."

Prue nodded in agreement. "Book of Shadows?" With that, all four sisters, as well as Leo, marched upstairs to the attic.


End of Chapter One

[vandergraafk]

Chapter Two

The Triad were in session. The Source had just expressed once again his extreme dissatisfaction with the lack of success the demonic underworld was having in destroying the Charmed Ones. Truth be told: the Triad had not had much success. Rex and Hannah, failure. An upper level demon? Not much better. As the Source's council, the Triad carried out and executed the Source's commands. Though they were never one to get directly involved, the Triad did have access to all of the demonic resources the Source could reliably count on. "Who next?" they wondered.

"The Brotherhood of the Thorn," one intoned, as the others nodded in agreement. "Summon Xargon."

Xargon was the head of the Brotherhood of the Thorn, an elite group of upper level demons who had source allegiance to the Source. The Brotherhood had many willing demon assasins who would be more than willing to serve the Triad to prove their allegiance to the Source.

Xargon shimmered inside the cavern and stood at the center of an equilateral triangle, surrounded by a member of the Triad standing at each vertex. Synchronically, the Triad made their demands known. "We require three upper level demons from the Brotherhood. Choose your most reliable and best skilled and direct them to attack the Charmed Ones individually. This time we will divide and conquer. In isolation, their powers are weak. Wound two and their whitelighter will be unable to save them all. With one or more dead, the threat ends. Be ready immediately."

Xargon shimmered away. At the headquarters of the Brotherhood of the Thorn, Xargon commanded his assistant to summon a gathering of the Brotherhood.

**********************************

Henry picked up the phone. He was hoping Paige would be on the other end. He could use some good news regarding his parolee Jamison. That missing VA money was really causing a mess. But, it was not Paige. Instead, it was Evelina from Peninsula Day Care, the small but excellent day care facility where the twins stayed each day. After a stint as a volunteer, Paige had even found a part-time job there.

The call from Evelina came quite unexpectedly. Even though it was not Paige's day to work at the facility, Paige was supposed to pick up the twins on her way back home. "Why was Evelina calling?" Henry wondered to himself.

"Hi, Henry. It's Evelina from Peninsula Day Care. I am calling to let you know that Paige has yet to pick up the twins."

Henry glanced at the clock. It was just past 7 pm.

"I've tried calling Paige several times, but there's no answer on her cell phone. Can you come by to pick up the twins. I've got to lock up soon."

Henry assured Evelina that he would be over in a jiffy. He thanked her for staying past the 6:30 pm pick-up deadline.

After picking up the twins from day care and once again thanking Evelina profusely, Henry wondered what he should do. He, too, had tried to call Paige after receiving Evelina's call, but like her he got no response. He thought of calling Piper or Phoebe, but instead he just headed up the 280 and headed towards San Francisco. Going against the flow of traffic, Henry made it to the manor by 8 pm. "Piper is probably still home," Henry reasoned to himself. "Phoebe is still at work most likely."

When Henry approached the manor, he noticed Chris and Wyatt playing basketball under the bright lights illuminating the basketball court that Leo had designed at the top of the driveway. As usual, Wyatt was running circles around Chris who, barely 6, was still having trouble dribbling the ball. Every once and a while, Chris tried to use his powers to make a shot over the outstretched arms of Wyatt, who by now had a six-inch height advantage over Chris. But, both boys knew that using magic was pointless since Wyatt could always negate whatever Chris might try.

"Good," thought Henry. "At least, Leo's home. Henry found a spot a bit further down the street. He carefully picked up the now sleeping twins and clutched them close to his chest as he headed towards the stairsteps. While slowing ascending the stairs, Henry half-expected to hear of some demonic emergency that required the presence of all three sisters. But, lately though, ever since the Triad had finally been vanquished, the sisters had been enjoying a normal life.

Upon entering the manor, Henry called out to his brother-in-law Leo. From the kitchen area, where she was cleaning up after dinner, Piper answered first. "Henry, hi, Leo's upstairs in Melinda's room reading a bedtime story. What can I do for you?"

After gently placing the twins in the playpen, always available and often used, in the sun room, Henry headed for the kitchen. Instinctively, he picked up a dish towel from the rack to help with the dishes. He was well aware of the vehemence with which Piper refused to allow a dishwasher to be installed in the manor. She hated the spots that even the best of dishwashers sometimes left on silverware and plates. And, besides, it was the one activity that Piper and Leo could always count on as the evening wound down.

"You know, Henry, Leo will be down in a minute or two. I just know he'll try to wrestle that dish towel out of your hands."

Henry thought it over and reluctantly deposited the towel back on the rack. Wistfully, he explained, "Old habit, you know." For during his bachelor days, Henry rather enjoyed washing and drying the dishes. He was a good cook and a bit of a neat freak, though not as obsessive as Piper was. Paige, though, was the exact opposite. For her, housework was a chore to be overcome and avoided at all costs. A dishwasher was the ticket if Henry wanted
to keep domestic peace and prevent Paige from using magic to keep house.

"Piper," Henry asked. "Have you seen or heard from Paige. She didn't pick up the twins from day care and neither the day care nor I have been able to reach her on her cell phone?"

"No, Henry, I'm sorry. The last time I spoke with Paige was yesterday. I called to ask whether she planned to bring the twins to Melinda's birthday party next week. Maybe Phoebe knows something. After all, you know those two are always on the phone with each other. Do you want me to give Phoebe a call. I'm sure if something delayed Paige, Phoebe would know."

Piper reached for the kitchen phone and speed dialed Phoebe. Putting down a letter she was perusing, Phoebe picked up the office phone.

"Oh, hi, Piper, what's up. You know me, I'm still at work. Billie's watching the girls till I get home. Coop's off somewhere bringing loved ones together."

"Slow down, Phebes. You ramble as much as Paige does. And, speaking of Paige, have you heard from her lately? Henry's here and he's a bit worried."

"Uh no, not lately. Why, Piper is something up?"

"Not sure. Paige didn't pick up the twins and day care and her cell phone does not seeming to be in service. We were kinda hoping that you two had chatted today."

"Of course, we did. The last time I spoke to Paige she was stuck in some monumental traffic jam on Van Ness. It seems like there was a big pile-up early in the afternoon on the south 101 at the hospital curve. Paige said she was pretty exhausted from dealing with four or five government agencies earlier in the day. She was also thinking about parking the car and orbing home then over to day care to pick up the twins. But, Piper, that was three or four hours ago, I think."

"Did she say where she was going to park the car?"

"Well, she was on Van Ness. I suppose she was going to park it somewhere along Van Ness, if she could find a spot. She was a little bit south of Lombard when we spoke. Piper, you're starting to worry me now. Should I be worried?"

"I don't know, Phebes. This sort of thing doesn't happen any more. And, it's getting me worried."

"Okay, Piper, let me call Billie and tell her that I'm going to the manor. I'll let Coop know that he needs to look after the girls. Billie's got a date with some hottie she met at school."

Piper hung up the phone and turned to Henry. "Henry, if I can't locate Paige by scrying, do you have a car keys. Maybe we can find where her car is at least."

"Yeah, sure," Henry replied. "Here they are."

Just as Henry was handing over the keys, Leo popped in to the kitchen. Reaching for the dish towel, Leo caught sight of Henry. "Hi, Henry, what brings you here so late. Is Paige here, too?"

"Uh no, honey. That's why Henry's here. Paige has gone missing and I'm about to go upstairs to scry for her. Phoebe's on her way over. It seems Paige was having a bad day and decided to orb home to save time when maybe something happened."

Leo looked perplexed and once again was overcome by a sense of helplessness. Ever since he had fallen from grace and lost his ability to sense the sisters, he could only offer limited help to the Charmed Ones. He wished he good do more, as he had during the first seven years when he was their whitelighter/Elder.

"Okay, well Henry, there's no point in you staying here. You might as well go home and be with the twins," Leo offered. "Piper and Phoebe can handle it. They'll find Paige in no time flat."

"Thanks, Leo, but the twins are already here. I brought them along with me after picking them up from day care. They're in the sun room, in the play pen."

"Well, let's take them upstairs and put the girls in the bassinets."

As Leo and Henry went to get the twins, Piper headed up the stairs to the attack. She only hoped it would be as easy to find Paige as Leo had suggested. After an hour of fruitless scrying for Paige and her car, Piper was relieved to see Phoebe come through the attic door.

"Any luck?" Phoebe inquired.

"No, Phebes, and I'm really starting to worry. I can't locate her at all. It's as if she's disappeared. She's not in San Francisco, not anywhere in the Bay Area. I don't even think she's in Northern California."

"Well, we could use the spell to find a lost sister." Phoebe replied.

Phoebe headed for the stand which held the Book of Shadows, a constantly revised and magically updated compendium of spells and demons, of spells to vanquish demons and of demons who had been vanquished by spells. There was other stuff, too, but the content was ever changing - magically, of course.

After a half a dozen incantations of the lost sister spell, and more than a dozen recitations of the original spell, "To Call for a Lost Witch", Phoebe and Piper were no closer to finding Paige than before they started. Phoebe turned to Piper and asked for the keys. "Maybe I can get a premonition off them."

As Phoebe clutched the car keys tightly in her hand, her body soon began to convulse. Before her closed eyes, images of Paige exiting the car, scurrying into an alley and orbing flashed by kaleidoscopically. Before Phoebe could recount what she had just viscerally experienced, Piper, having recognized the signs of a major premonition, called out rather urgently. "Come on, come on. What have you got? Is Paige in trouble? Come on, Phebes, what have you got?"

Phoebe tried to calm Piper through a careful retelling of what she had seen. She pointedly indicated that nothing in the vision indicated that Paige was in trouble. "At least, I think I know where the car is parked," Phoebe added. "Maybe Leo and Henry can go get it while we figure out what to do next."

"Good idea," Piper replied. "You go talk Henry and Leo while I try to come up with another idea."

In a few minutes, Phoebe returned and assured Piper that Henry and Leo would take care of the car. " Well," Phoebe continued, "Did you come up with anything, sis?"

"Actually, no," replied Piper rather matter of factly. "As much as I hate to admit this, I think it's time we summon the Elders. Who knows, maybe they're getting their cosmic jollies by having Paige orb who knows where."

"Piper!" Phoebe retorted. "The Elders have been pretty cool lately. Ever since they decided to do something really, really special by bringing Coop and me together, they have bothered much with us. You know and you've got to hand to them, they've really come to accept both Chris and Wyatt."

The mention of Chris and Wyatt sent Piper into a frenzy. "Oh, my god," she said. "I forgot about the boys. Are they still outside playing basketball?"

Before Leo had left with Henry to reclaim Paige's car, he made sure that the boys had come inside, gotten changed and cleaned up, and gone to bed. Though Piper suspected as much, she still dashed downstairs and outside to check. Calming down, she came back in and went upstairs to check on the boys. Phoebe had already checked in on the boys and had continued on down to the parlor where Piper rejoined her.

"Well, are we ready to call for an Elder?" Phoebe asked.

"Yep," Piper replied. "Let's call for Sandra. At least she's been pretty reliable."

Sandra was one of the few Elders who had consistently sided with the Charmed Ones. Unfortunately, many times she had been selected by the Council of Elders to be the bearer of news, both good and bad. But, Sandra was one of the few Elders that Piper had grown to trust and respect, at least to the extent that Piper could ever really chummy up to an Elder. Over the years, Sandra had grown accustomed to Piper's sarcasm and scorn, but her soothing and reassuring tone had slowly broken down Piper's well-seated hostility to all things Elder.

As Sandra orbed in, Piper's face brightened up a bit, even though both she and Phoebe were going to cut right to the chase, so pleasantries were not really on the agenda as far as the sisters were concerned.

"Piper, Phoebe," Sandra greeted the two Charmed Ones. "I've been expecting your call. Your worried about Paige, aren't you?"

"Exactly," Piper replied.

"I told the council that it would be much easier if we told you in advance what was going to happen. But my concerns were overruled. Time was of the essence, and it was felt that action had to be taken immediately."

"What action?" Phoebe said with a slightly raised voice that revealed her raised anxiety level with respect to Paige.

"It was decided to reward Paige for her exuberance in fulfilling her duties as a whitelighter. We've sent her back in time to meet Prue, as well as you and Piper."

"You did what!" proclaimed Piper, as her jaw dropped in lock-step with Phoebe's.

"We would have preferred to have given both Paige and you some advanced warning in order to prepare yourselves, but our hand was forced by the other side."

"What do you mean, forced by the other side," Piper scowled.

Sandra continued, "The demonic world was about to launch a full-scale attack on the Charmed Ones, an attack that we felt the Charmed Ones were not quite prepared for. Rather than risk that the balance between Good and Evil be permanently altered, we decided to send back Paige to help deal with the attack."

"What kind of an attack?" Piper demanded to know.

"An attack that took place about ten years ago, one that was initiated by the Brotherhood of the Thorn. They nearly succeeded in wiping out the Charmed Ones, but as I'm sure you remember you got unexpected help from a distant relative."

"You don't mean our cousin from Boston? What was her name, Piper?"

"Pamela," Piper replied.

"You mean to tell me that Pamela was really future Paige? Well, duh," contined Phoebe, answering her own rhetorical question. "She must have glammed herself to disguise who she really was. Oh my god!"

"Wait a minute!" Piper demanded. "What if the other side catches on to what you've done? Couldn't they do something equally radical? Aren't you playing fast and loose with the past?"

"You have a point, Piper," Sandra replied reassuringly. "However, we feel that whatever the other side tries to do will have no effect on the outcome."

"Pretty big gamble, if you asked me," Piper retorted. "So, Paige gets to meet Prue, help her sisters and run the risk that something might go horribly wrong. I gotta admit it sounds like the Elders of old. Only the Elders could come up with a cockamamie frequent whitelighter program."

"Yeah, and make winning an all expense paid trip to the past an invitation to die," Phoebe chimed in.

"And you just expect us to sit here and wait patiently while God knows what happens in the past? Why didn't you send us, too?" Piper inquired further.

"It wouldn't have mattered. Your powers would not have altered the playing field. Sending you to the past would have returned your powers to the powers that you had at that time. The Paige in that time has no powers that she is aware of. Sending Paige from the present will allow present day Paige to keep her powers in the past," Sandra explained.

"Kind of luck when we visited mom in 1975, when little Prue and Piper had their powers and you too had none," Phoebe added.

"Well, you're not leaving us much choice, are you," noted Piper. It's kind of like take it or take it, even though we'd rather leave it in the pile marked 'Yeah, right'."

"I'm so sorry," Sandra replied as she orbed away.

Piper and Phoebe turned towards each other and practically mimicked each others' words and actions. Each knew that it was high time for several relaxing cups of chamomile tea.

"You get the tea. I'll get the cookies," Piper finished as they both headed out of the parlor and into the kitchen.

End of Chapter 2

[vandergraafk]

Chapter 3


Phoebe looked up from the Book of Shadows. After nearly an hour of perusing, Phoebe could find nothing relating to time portals. Finally, she sighed, "I've got nothing. There's nothing in here that can help explain how Pamela got here and how we can send her back. We could try a spell, but I don't think it will work. Not even the Power of Three will be of help."

"Oh, my, what are we going to do," Piper inquired.

Three brothers gathered around their leader Xargon. Each was an upper level demon with experience in assassinating enemies of the Source. Each had his share of vanquishing witches. None had experience with witches of the ability and resourcefulness of the Charmed Ones. But, they had always been quick to adapt to their quarry. To each assassin, Xargon assigned one witch.

Anaxar was given the task of eliminating Prue. From the reports of previously failed demons, he knew that Prue had the power of telekinesis. His own power of deflection could perhaps negate Prue's. For Anaxar, however, it was important to gain advantage by going on immediate attack in order to catch Prue off guard. But, he needed to do so at a time and place when Prue was separated from Piper. Her power to freeze clearly posed a threat to any demon attacking the Charmed Ones.

Assigned to eliminate Piper was Dextor. Dextor was a formidable opponent. Like his brothers, he had the power to launch fireballs and shimmer. But, he had stolen the power to blink from a lower level demon. Blinking would enable him, he hoped, to avoid Piper's freezing power.

Phoebe was assigned to Lotarius. To counter Phoebe's still nascent power of levitation, Lotarius had the power to draw forth objects. Like a magnet, Lotarius's power attracted objects towards the source of that power, namely, Lotarius. Then, he could use his other powers to vanquish anyone or anything which otherwise would have been at a safe distance away from the demon and his normal upper level demonic powers.

As plans went, this one seemed promising. Each demon was matched appropriately to his target and certainly had the ability to take out the Charmed Ones. Should the situation, moreover, call for these demons to pool their efforts and work together, cooperation could be expected. Members of the Brotherhood were not likely to undo each other's efforts in order to gain favor with the Source. They were after all handpicked by the Source to join the Brotherhood. Other demons, if sent together to complete a task, were just as likely to succeed in vanquishing each other as in vanquishing witches. Moving up the demonic food chain oftentimes meant wiping out the competition.

Xargon wondered whether he should assign a darklighter to the group. However, he did not wish to inject the petty jealousies that darklighters many times brought to the table. As demons, darklighters were pretty low on the totem pole. Although their poisonous arrows were deadly to whitelighters, they were of no match to witches with powers. Witches with the powers of the Charmed Ones could easily vanquish darklighters.

Before dispatching his hit squad, Xargon exhorted his assassins in his usual staccato like way. "Await the most propitious time. Do not risk the exposure of magic. Coordinate with the other cells. Do not let the witches dictate the action. Be aggressive. Do not fail. Use all of the powers at your disposal. You must vanquish the Charmed Ones. The Triad expects nothing less."


*************************************************

“Leo,” Piper whispered to her husband as they lay in bed. ”Do you think Paige is going to be okay? This time travel stuff really scares me. Any little change could really mess things up.”

“Honey,” Leo replied reassuringly, “I meant it when I told Henry that everything would be okay. Paige is a very, very capable witch and whitelighter. I trust her instincts one hundred percent. Besides, Paige knows all too well the consequences of time travel. Remember when you, Patty and Grams had to alter the past, to change the present and save the future? Well, Paige does too. She’ll be fine.”

And with that, Leo gave Piper a long kiss on the cheek, wrapped his arms around her, and held Piper as tightly as he could. Both soon drifted off into slumber.


End of Chapter 3



"Maybe this just has to play out," Prue offered. "There's a lot we still don't understand about our powers."

Phoebe looked upward and said beseechingly, "We could use a little help, you know!"

Usually, when the sisters could not glean the appropriate information they needed from the book on their own, the pages of the book flipped over on their own in order to point the sisters to the correct spell or demon, but this time only silence greeted Phoebe's plea.

"Now, I am certain that there's nothing we can do," Prue explained. "We just have to let this play out and hope that we can trust Pamela. Leo, do you agree?"

"I don't know. If she was sent here for a reason, then the Elders won't know anything at all. If she was accidentally sent back here by some demonic action, then she's probably safer with the Charmed Ones. If she was deliberately sent back by a demon, then we should all be wary."

"I agree," Paige added. "I would be careful if I were in your shoes, too."

Just then, a low rustle could be heard in the attic. A slight breeze picked up and the Book of Shadows opened to an entry, one not previously seen in the book, on the Brotherhood of the Thorn. When the rustling stopped, Phoebe glanced at the entry. "That wasn't there a few minutes ago," she noted. "Thanks, Grams."

"You always say that, Phoebe. How do you know it was Grams this time?" Piper wanted to know.

"I don't. But, isn't it nice to think that Grams is still watching over us?" Phoebe replied.

"Enough already," Prue said. "What's it say?"

Phoebe glanced at the title and quickly read the entry.

Brotherhood of the Thorn

An elite group of upper level demons that swears allegiance to the Source and carries out orders decreed by the Triad. Each demon has sworn a blood oath to each other, to the leader of the Brotherhood, to the Triad and to the Source. Vanquishing a member of the Brotherhood is difficult. Spells and potions combined may work. The Power of Three may be required.

"Wow," Prue replied. "That sounds ominous. Are we supposed to expect an attack?"

"Well, if they do, then you will need to be prepared," Leo cautioned. "The Brotherhood are very powerful demons. They're sort of like hired hitmen, but as a group they are capable of coordinated attacks. Maybe it's not a coincidence that Pamela has been sent back in time. If they launch a full-scale attack, you could all be in danger."

"Okay, Leo, but what would really help us to know like when and where we can expect an attack. Maybe the Elders have some ideas. Can you orb to them, please?"

Leo gave a hug to Piper, kissed her on the lips and orbed out.

"Dammit," Piper whispered. "Why does he always orb out before he finishes kissing? Uhhhh!"

"Okay, Piper, personal problems aside. We've got some major work to do. You need to work on some potions. Pamela, can you give Piper a hand? I've got to get ready for a photo shoot tomorrow in the Oakland Hills. Phebes, maybe you can give me a hand. I could use an assistant tomorrow, and I'd really like to have you around in case a demon shows up, especially now that you've got the power to levitate."

****************************************************

After returning to the parlor and sitting by the fireplace exuding a reassuring warmth on this cool summer night in San Francisco, the girls resumed their conversation.

"Phebes, I'm really worried about this. Paige is a really, really good witch and whitelighter, but this could be very dangerous."

"I know, sweetie, but what can we do? Remember the time portal the Elders sent us through to protect the birth of baby Melinda?"

"How can I forget. We nearly died by hanging, and our powers were not even available to us."

"Yes, but we did learn basic Wiccan practices to save the day and ourselves. Besides, wasn't it just thrilling to help give birth to the founder of our line of witches?"

"Sure, quite a thrill, but it was still very dangerous."

"Listen, Piper, Sandra didn't say that Paige wouldn't have her powers. She said that Paige's powers were needed to help stop the Brotherhood. So maybe it will be okay."

"What worries me more," Phoebe continued is whether Cole is going to be involved. Remember: he was in the Brotherhood, too." What if he encounters Paige? He won't know her or recognize her. But suppose they should meet and something happens to him or her, time could really be affected."

"Yeaaaaah, Cole, again," Piper drearily sighed.

At that moment, Leo and Henry opened the front door and, hearing voices coming from the parlor room, headed towards the fireplace. "Any news?" Leo asked.

"Well, sort of. Henry, maybe you should sit down. Leo, honey, thanks for taking care of the boys before you left."

'My pleasure. So, what gives?"

According to the Elders, Paige has been sent back in time to help the Charmed Ones - Piper, Phoebe and Prue - ward off a powerful attack by the Brotherhood."

"Of the Thorn," Leo interjected.

"Yep, the one and only. And Cole might be there, too."

"Paige is going to meet Prue," added Phoebe. "It's supposed to be some sort of reward."

"Yeah, right," wisecracked Piper, repeating what she had said earlier. "Only the Elders could make a chance to die seem like winning the lottery."

"Well, what did the Elders say exactly?" Leo inquired.

"Pretty much what we've just said," replied Phoebe.

"Paige was needed to give the Charmed Ones a power boost to ward off an attack by the Brotherhood, an attack that had the potential to tip the balance between Good and Evil, yada, yada..." Piper continued.

"Like she said," Phoebe nodded.

"What's that mean," Henry wanted to know.

"Uh, Paige might be away for a while. You'd better let the day care people know," Piper replied. "And, I suppose you can join us as we pretend not to worry and remain calm. Cookies, anyone?"

"We've got chamomile tea, too," Phoebe offered.

"There's not a whole lot we CAN do," Piper snorted. "Honey, don't you agree?"

Leo shrugged his shoulder and put his hand on the shoulder of the now speechless Henry. "It'll be okay. Paige is a powerful witch and whitelighter. I trust her instincts as you should, too. I'll go upstairs and get the hide a bed ready. There's no point in going home this late. Besides, the twins are fine. Phoebe, you might as well go home. I'm sure Patience and Penelope will want to see their mommy in the morning."

"In a bit," Phoebe replied. "In a bit. Let's first finish the cookies and tea."

****************************************************

[Fourever Charmed]

Interesting story. When I first began reading I wondered why this had been placed in Season 3, then I realized it was a time travel story and it made a bit more sense.

However, there are still several things I take issue with continuity-wise.

1. Paige tells Phoebe that she is a "sister witch" first, then in the next breath she turns around and says "I've accidentally orbed into another time or maybe even another reality." Phoebe, however, takes no issue with this, which seems strange since Phoebe would know that orbing is a whitelighter power, not a witch power. She should've immediately challenged this, asking how a witch can orb and further questioning Paige's story.

2. Prue and Piper are surprised that whitelighters and witches can have children. This greatly conflicts with "Morality Bites," however, where the sisters are already aware that Piper and Leo have a daughter in the future, meaning that obviously whitelighters can have children.

3. The Brotherhood of the Thorn. It doesn't appear as though this story is finished yet, so maybe I'm jumping the gun, but the sisters didn't know about The Brotherhood until the end of season three and this story takes place before season three even starts. So either that's a big glitch in continuity, or somehow all of the knowledge about The Brotherhood and this attack (except for the fact that "Pamela" came back to help them since they seem to remember that) is erased from their minds, Leo's, and the Book of Shadows. (Also, I'm guessing that Xargon probably dies, since Cole's telepathic mentor is the Brotherhood leader when we meet them again in season three, otherwise that too wouldn't make sense.)

4. Paige's powers. I know that you tried to explain this here:

"It wouldn't have mattered. Your powers would not have altered the playing field. Sending you to the past would have returned your powers to the powers that you had at that time. The Paige in that time has no powers that she is aware of. Sending Paige from the present will allow present day Paige to keep her powers in the past," Sandra explained.

"Kind of luck when we visited mom in 1975, when little Prue and Piper had their powers and you too had none," Phoebe added.

But it just does not make sense. We know that you don't have your powers when you go back in time to a point before you exist (unless you're Chris and your spell allows you to keep said powers), because technically, your powers don't exist either. We also know that two sets of people can't have powers at the same time. Paige of 2000 also has her powers, at least her whitelighter powers. She's had orbing her entire life, it's what saved her from the crash that killed her parents. Her witch powers, however, she didn't have until she connected with Piper and Phoebe at the Manor. Now, if say, Patty bound Paige's powers before giving her up to the church and the spell only bound Paige's witchly powers (TK) but not her whitelighter powers, then 2000 Paige would also have all of her other WL powers, even if she doesn't know about them, including glamouring. That would mean TT (Time Traveling) Paige should not have those either. I suppose I can accept Paige having TKO, though, since (still going by my theory that Patty bound Paige's witch powers and never knew her WL powers wouldn't be affected by the binding spell) 2000 Paige still exists (and thus the power exists) but she doesn't "have" that power available to her, that TT Paige would be able to activate it.

Your explanation is that 2000 Paige was not aware of her powers and therefore TT Paige can still use her powers. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense though. Phoebe also didn't have her powers in 1975, yet was Unborn Phoebe aware of the existence of her premonitions? Probably as unaware of her premonitions as Paige was of her WL abilities.

5. Also, the very presence of "Pamela" disrupts the continuity, unless of course the sisters forget that "Pamela" was supposedly a witchlighter. After all, Phoebe, Piper, and Leo are all dumbfounded in season four to learn that a "witchlighter" existed, but they wouldn't be if they had previously met one - a second cousin no less - just over a year earlier.

[vandergraafk]

As you noted, I have "stopped" working on this story "temporarily". It's been a while since I've looked at it. However, I find your points very interesting. As regards time travel, the difficulty I have with Chris Crossed is the notion that, while a special spell is required to preserve Chris's powers in the past (a time before he was conceived), the notion that he could "swipe" the spell on his return to prevent Wyatt from sending another to kill him is absurd. Charmed itself has problems with time travel. But, the "rules" that we do have allude to the problems you expose.

How I am going to work in the Brotherhood is still up in the air. I may instead go with another agent of the TRIAD. In the event, the powers that I wish Paige/Pamela to have would be only those of a whitelighter. How that gets explained is something I am going to have to work out. Thanks for the critique.