66"I want to go home," Prue stated, her eyes filling with tears. "I want my mommy. I want Piper to be littler than me, and I want my Grams."
"Sweetheart," Piper knelt in front of the little girl, and put her arms around her, holding the silky dark head close. "Sweetie, that mommy, she's gone. Grams in this world, and Mommy, they're gone." Prue shoved her away.
"Make them come back! I want my Grams, and my mommy! I want my sister!" she yelled. None of the sisters noticed the glass begin to rattle in the windows of the Halliwell mansion. A tea-cup left on the table began to judder along it.
"Oh Prue," Phoebe joined Piper beside the small child, and tried to hold her close. "You can't go back." Prue lifted her head, teartracks running down her stubborn chin.
"Make your Prue come back," she ordered. "I don't want to be your Prue anymore. I want my Mommy! Make her come back!" she shrieked.
"She can't," Piper said quietly. "Our Prue is dead. Our Mom, and our Grams are dead."
"No," Prue shook her head hard, the glass in the windows now shaking so hard that it began to crack. "No. I won't let it! I don't want to be here! I want to go back, make her come back here, let me go home!"
She tugged away from the two sisters, and ran upstairs. Grams' book, that would tell her how to get to Mommy. She wasn't dead. Prue wouldn't let her be.
"Where's she going?' Phoebe asked, looking at Piper. Piper followed the flight of Prue, her eyes clearing, as realisation dawned on her face.
"The attic," she breathed.
"Wait just a darn second," Paige interrupted, as the two others turned to follow the little girl. Piper stared at the window.
"Why is the window shaking?" she asked no one in particular, frowning in puzzlement. "Did we order an earthquake? Apocalypse, anyone?"
"Hey, Piper, pay attention!" Paige snapped, orbing into her sister's line of sight. "I'm making with the insight. Listen."
"What, Paige? Little kid, near book of shadows. Prue that size before drew illustrations in it." Piper looked frazzled.
"Well, maybe I'm saying you shouldn't go rushing up there," Paige placed her hands on her hips. "She's upset. We did kinda rip her away from her mom, and Grams and all."
"We did not," Piper interrupted. "You. That was you. And excuse me, I need to save my house."
She ran up the stairs, closely followed by Phoebe. Paige sighed, but chased after them.
Prue flipped open the book. It snapped shut again. Prue slammed it down onto the floor, and pulled at it. It wouldn't open.
"Let me read it!' she yelled to the ceiling. Stubbornly, the book resisted her touch. The windows and walls shook even more dangerously.
"Prudence Halliwell!" Piper shouted, her voice muffled as the door to the attic slammed hard in her face. She stopped, stunned a moment. "Oh boy, you are in soo much trouble, young lady," she muttered.
"Prue? Prue?" Phoebe knocked on the door, leaning up against it, her face pressed to the wood. "Prue, sweetie, we're not mad-"
"Yes we are," Piper interrupted, scowling darkly. Phoebe raised an eyebrow.
"Shhh," she hissed. "Sweetheart, if you just let us in-"
The light fixture began to sway above them, and a wind rattled through the house.
Paige appeared at the top of the stairs in a shimmer of blue lights. She looked at the door. "Barricaded herself in?"
"Oh yeah," Piper drawled. Thunder crashed above them, in the sky overhead. All three looked up automatically.
"Why does that give me a bad feeling?' Phoebe asked plaintively.
Leo orbed in, his face grave. "She's drawing on earth magic. It's why the weather is-"lightening cracked loudly above them. "Reflecting her mood. Her wanting to leave the dimension is de-stabilising it."
Piper frowned. "Leo, hundreds of teenagers want to leave the dimension every day. It's called being a kid. We don't permanently have storms."
"Prue's essence's imprint is on her own dimension," Leo explained. "When she came here, she's still got her old position in that dimension to go back to. It's where she comes from. She's drawing on old magic, not power of three magic, to get back there, the old magic fights the power of three magic holding her here, destabilising the world."
"I have a solution,' Paige burst out. They all turned to look at her. "Well, I do,' she said defensively. "I orb in there, and, we talk."
"That's your brilliant explanation?' Piper cocked a brow. "Reason? With a five year old?"
"I was trained in this, Piper," Paige folded her arms. "Plus, it's the only way we've got." She disappeared, in a blur of white and blue light. Piper sighed.
"Please don't let my elder sister destroy my house," she muttered.
Paige squinted to see, lifting her arm to shield her eyes. Prue stood in the centre of the room, the Book of Shadows open at her feet, the pages rifled by the wind. Her black hair flew back from her small face, as she screamed along with the storm. The windows were open, rain blowing into the attic as the storm raged. The room was shaking violently, the tables, and old dressers shuddering.
"Prue? Prue, sweetie, it's Paige," the older witch called. Prue was shrieking something, the words hard to make out against the battle of the storm. She concentrated, trying hard to hear them.
"Make. Her. Come. Back!" Prue pounded the Book of Shadows, trying to force it to show her how to make the this-Prue come back, but it wouldn't. The pages were blank, like her colouring book, and she wanted Mommy to hold her tight, and sit with her, smoothing her hair. Mommy was mean, staying away. It hurt inside, like she couldn't breathe and her chest was all tight. Paige winced in sympathy as she finally made out the words.
Paige orbed closer and firmly lifted the little girl's hands in her own and away from the book. Prue still yelled, the words incoherent, but scared blue eyes lifted to meet Paige's own, and she stopped, silent a moment before stopping, her chin quivering. The storm died down, but the windows stil rattled dangerously.
"Look, sweetheart. I never knew our mom," Paige told her, kneeling down in front of her. The little girl's chest still heaved with sobs, but she was listening. "I never got to see her, because she died when I was a baby. I never knew I had magical powers or anything."
"What happened?" Prue snuffled. Paige smiled sympathetically. "Well, when the older-you passed away, I went to the funeral. And I met our sisters. We became the power of three again, and I started learning to be a witch. Just because my mom is gone doesn't mean I can't see her. I've got photos, and there's Phoebe and Piper to look at. Piper has her eyes, and Phoebe's –natural-," she corrected herself, "Hair colour is the same. I think I have her nose." Prue covered her mouth with her hands to hide a grin.
"Yeah, exactly," Paige told her, tapping Prue's own nose. "So just because she's gone away doesn't mean we can't remember her. It was the same with the other you. She died, and Piper and Phoebe were really sad, but they remembered her. You're extra special because they remember the old her, and the new her. Now, sweetie, can you stop making things shake, please?"
Prue nodded slowly, and gently, the objects hurling around the attic settled, the windows remained still, and the skies cleared. Paige smiled at her. "See, not so hard, was it?"
/
"Phoebe?" The woman smiled down at the girl beside her, one hand resting on her stomach.
"Yeah, Prue?" she answered, scooping the cookies out of the pan with a spatula, exchanging a look with Piper, seated at the table, Leo beside her.
"When the babies come," Prue thought it through slowly, her black pigtails swishing across her shoulders as she looked from Piper to Phoebe. "Are they really my babies, or other-Prue's?"
"They're yours, sweetie," Phoebe handed her a cookie. Prue looked thoughtful once more as she took a bite.
"Phoebe?"
"Yeah?" Phoebe smiled at the cookie tray. With innocence practically glowing from her Prue asked,
"Who made your baby with you? Piper and Leo made hers, but there's only one you."
Piper choked on a mouthful of herbal tea. Leo patted her back with a little grin to Phoebe. The witch herself paused, trying to think of a suitable answer.
"Sometimes, magic happens," she suggested, lamely. Prue cocked her head on one side, curiously.
"Is it big magic then?" she said, thinking of the Book upstairs. If Phoebe got to do baby-magic, she'd have a go too.
"The biggest, honey," Phoebe kissed the top of her head, and then ran the water to soak the pan.
A/N: And that's nearly the final chapter. Next, last chapter, the babies are born and named. Please review!