Chapter Text
Priscilla groaned deeply into her pillow when she woke to a head light with missing memories. Then she huffed out a breath, rolling out of bed with a thump. She pulled on a pair of jeans and socks she wasn't even sure were mates before she headed downstairs, nearly running into Piper in the hallway.
Piper who looked frazzled in a way that set Priscilla's teeth on edge. Piper grabbed Priscilla's wrist and dragged her into the living room. Priscilla snagged her bag and jacket off the couch. Why had she left them there? Oh right, stumbling in at six in the morning after spending most of the night in the Underworld was not conducive for putting things away where they were supposed to go.
“Okay, alright. I need a pen and paper.” Piper let go of Priscilla's wrist to try and one of the drawers in the hutch. It didn't budge. “Quick, we don't have a lot of time.”
Phoebe crossed over to where Piper was standing. She hit the top of the drawer twice before kicking the side. The drawer popped open.
“I always wondered how you got into my candy drawer.” Piper admitted with narrowed eyes.
“Yeah, too bad all the candy's gone.” Phoebe agreed.
Priscilla laughed. “We moved the candy drawer to the kitchen actually. Ironically it's kept Piper from finding it.”
Piper sent a quick look in Priscilla's direction, and Priscilla belatedly realized she probably shouldn't have admitted to where the coven hid their contraband candy. But now it was a problem for a future-past Priscilla.
“I thought it would be easier for us to just write him a note.” Piper said, words coming out in a breathy rush as she pulled a pen and a piece of paper out of the drawer.
“Who him?” Prue asked.
“You know, what's his name.” Piper replied. And something about the way she said it told Priscilla she should know what his name was. If only it wasn't for the missing memories. Priscilla scowled, fingers twitching at her side as she quashed the desire to summon her mini crossbow.
Piper and Prue still didn't know about Priscilla's darklighter heritage and she wanted to keep it that way for a little while longer.
The doorbell rang.
“Grandma's little friend, comes every year, same day, same time. Says you know, the flowers are from a secret admirer when it's obvious he's the admirer.” Piper continued as she moved to the door, Phoebe, Prue, and Priscilla on her heels. She opened the door. “Hi come on in.” She greeted as the grandfather clock started chiming. “How are you?”
Priscilla's sensing told her that the man who entered the house was demonic. A warlock to be exact.
“Flowers for Miss Penny Halliwell.” He held the flowers out before dropping them. Piper froze him and the falling flowers.
“Every year.” Piper complained. “What a klutz. At least this year I can freeze him so I can spare myself the clean up.”
There was a nagging feeling in the back of Priscilla's head that said Piper should have just dealt with the clean up.
“Why did you want to write him a note?” Phoebe asked.
“To tell him Grams is dead.”
Prue grimaced. “Oh. You're gonna break his heart.”
Piper grabbed the frozen vase of flowers just as the man unfroze.
“Five chimes.” The man spoke. Priscilla took an unconscious step back. And it took everything in her not to yank Piper back away from the man.
“Excuse me?”
“The clock. I only heard five chimes. It's noon. That means you froze me. Which means you have your powers at last.”
Piper took a sharp step back.
“Uh, I don't know what you're talking about Mister, but thanks for the flowers. Okay, bye.”
Instead the man took a step forward. “Call me Nicholas. Your mother did.” He paused to put a ring on one of his fingers. “I had to appear to age over the years, otherwise you would've been suspicious.” He admitted as he stripped his glamour away to return to his normal form.
“What?” Prue asked.
“You see, twenty-four years ago today your mother and I made a pact. To spare her life she gave up your future powers to me. She blessed this ring. Which she gave immunity from your powers.” Piper flicked out her hands desperately trying to freeze Nicholas who kept advancing. “Immunity so that I could kill you and take the powers on for my own. To become invincible.”
“But she didn't make you immune to my powers.” Priscilla snapped as she finally summoned her mini crossbow. She raised it and fired. She didn't really aim much beyond making sure Piper wouldn't get hit, mostly just trying to pull the warlock's attention, so the bolt embedded into the wall, but it gave the girls time to run towards the stairs.
Nicholas snarled and turned on Priscilla. “Why are you protecting them darklighter?”
Priscilla ignored him, this time taking aim before she pulled the trigger. Nicholas threw himself to the side to avoid a bolt to the shoulder. He lifted his hand, fingers curled so his knuckles and his ring were pointed in Priscilla's direction. Priscilla's breath seized in her lungs.
“Your blood is boiling.” He spoke through gritted teeth. Priscilla could already feel her insides heating up. So, Nicholas either had a suggestion ability or a heat ability that he felt the need to narrate. Too bad for him.
Priscilla orbed. She reformed on the attic floor, bouncing hard as she landed.
“What are we gonna do?” Piper demanded as she pulled Priscilla to her feet.
“I think I found a spell.” Phoebe said from behind the Book of Shadows. “To unbind a bond.”
“Okay, we have no choice.” Prue agreed.
“Phoebe hurry.”
The Bond which was not to be done
give us the power to see it undone
and turn back time
to whence it begun
Source, that was one of the time travel spells!
Lights encircled the four of them before vanishing.
Phoebe blinked first. “It didn't work?”
“No.” Priscilla spoke, voice tight. She could feel the clog where her magic should have been. They were definitely in the past. “It definitely worked.”
A phone rang downstairs as Phoebe eased the attic door open.
“Whose phone is that?”
“Not ours.” Piper answered.
“Halliwell residence.” The voice of Penny Halliwell floated up the stairs.
“You go.” Piper hissed, shoving Phoebe forward.
“Nah-uh, you go.”
“Nah-uh.” Piper repeated childishly. “She goes.”
Both Piper and Phoebe shoved Prue out of the attic, shutting the door behind her. And then they rounded on Priscilla.
“Okay, what did you mean it worked? How can you tell?” Phoebe rapid fired.
“Turn back time to whence it was begun?” Priscilla repeated the line from the spell Phoebe had just said before gesturing to the attic around them. “Anything look different?” And while Priscilla and the girls hadn't completely rearranged the attic from how the girls had found it that night of the Autumanal Equinox it was definitely different from how Penny had hers set up.
Priscilla went searching for a pair of shoes since she hadn't put any on before Nicholas had attacked the manor. She just needed a pair that wouldn't send her even further back into the past.
Prue returned to the attic before either Piper or Phoebe could answer.
“What did you see?” Piper asked.
“The warlock?” Phoebe guessed.
Prue shook her head. “No. Us.”
Phoebe shook her head in denial before scurrying back to the Book to flip through it aggressively.
“How do we know we're back in time?” Piper asked as she paced the spot in front of the attic door. “What if we just brought the past to us accidentally? We've done it before.”
“Except Melinda wasn't an accident.” Priscilla piped up. Of course time travel wasn't usually an accident either. But Priscilla's own trip to the past and now this....
“Piper, look around. What do you see?” Prue gestured around the attic like Priscilla had done just a few minutes before.
“A messy attic, like always.” Piper said, even as her eyes skidded across some of the differences.
“No. Not like always. We have a black light, a typewriter, eight-track tapes and a pet rock. I mean, we got rid of this stuff years ago, remember?”
“Well no, you didn't get rid of the typewriter. I stole it. It's in my room next to the dollhouse. And blacklights are coming back in my time so you probably shouldn't have ditched that either.”
None of the girls so much as spared Priscilla a glance.
“And you saw us? As kids?”
Prue nodded before forcing the word out of her mouth. “Yeah.”
Piper uncrossed her arms to rub at her temples. “This can't be happening. I'm getting a migraine.”
Phoebe finally looked up from the Book. “Better not. I don't think Advil's been invented yet. And apparently neither has this spell. It's not in here anywhere.”
Priscilla nodded along. That made sense. Penny had probably written the 'to unbind a bond' spell after sending the girls back to their time.
“But we just cast it, that's how we got back... Here.”
Piper turned on Priscilla. Priscilla shrugged. “That's just how time travel works.”
“Yeah, well, wherever here is, it's before the spell was written.”
Even Phoebe shot a glare in Priscilla's direction. Like it was Priscilla's fault they had time traveled just because she'd done it before. Priscilla resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Just wait until they found out that most time travel blocked your magic. It was not going to be a fun reveal for them.
“So, how do we get home?” Prue asked, looking right at Priscilla.
Priscilla couldn't quite keep her little scoff laugh to herself. “If I knew that do you really think I would still be in the nineties?”
Phoebe groaned. “Let me be the first to say, we're screwed.” She dropped her face into her hands.
“No, okay, at least we're alive. I mean if we stayed in our own time, Nicholas would have killed us. We barely got away as it was... is... will be...” Prue's nose scrunched up as she tried to figure out the tenses. “You know, I've never been good with tenses.”
“What are we gonna do?” Piper asked.
“Well, Grams is right downstairs, maybe we should just go and tell her who we are.”
“And say what? Hi, we're the ghosts of grandchildren future. Come on, even Grams is going to have a little trouble with that.”
“Plus, she has that heart condition.”
“Your grandmother is a kickass witchy warrior and so much stronger than you give her credit for. Honestly the heart condition either A didn't kick in until after Patty died or B was the effect of some curse or other.” Priscilla protested. And honestly Priscilla was far more convinced that the heart condition had come from her dalliance with the necromancer. If he had fed off too much of her energy in his quest to enjoy life it would have certainly left some kind of effect.
Each of the girls sent her a different look, one of horror, one of intrigue, and one of exasperation. Priscilla shook her head and left the attic. The girls followed her. Penny was back on the phone when they reached the hallway.
“You're talking too fast, Patty, sweetheart, slow down.”
“Patty?” Piper asked, just a hint of awe in her voice.
“Mom.” Prue replied.
“What premonition? That's impossible, you don't have premonitions.” Grams continued.
“But I thought you said Mom's power was to freeze time.” Phoebe hissed to Prue.
When had Prue learned what Patty's power was?
“It is... Was... You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, but if say she was pregnant with a child that had the power of premonition and that ability was strong enough to pass onto the mother while the baby is still in the womb...” Priscilla trailed off pointedly.
“Nicholas did say twenty-four years ago.” Prue muttered, mostly under her breath.
Piper crept over to the other phone and picked it up. Priscilla leaned over so she could hear too.
“I don't need to go to the doctor Mom.” Patty protested on the other end of the line. “I need you to listen to what I'm saying.”
“She's talking to Mom.” Piper whispered.
“I can't explain it either, Mom. It just happened. I felt a twinge in my stomach-”
All three girls sent Priscilla look as if surprised her 'theory' had been confirmed. Priscilla ignored them.
“-And then bam! I saw it.”
“Saw what?”
“Three women. Warlocks. And one of them was taking Prue.”
Priscilla fought off an eye roll. And this was why premonition was not Patty's power. She didn't have the scope to sus out different possible interpretations.
“Do you really think that's Mom's voice?” Phoebe asked, her own voice small.
“Yes.” Piper answered without hesitation.
“Are you still nauseous? Why don't you come home from Buddy's?”
“I can't. And it was not a daydream.”
Grams hung up the phone before moving to look for her granddaughters.
“Okay. Let's get out of here.” Prue ushered her sisters down the stairs, Priscilla following behind them.
They stopped towards the bottom of the stairs as little Piper and little Prue came running through the living room. Prue used her powers to move a couch in front of the doorway.
“Whoa!”
“Wait, we had powers back then?”
“The active powers of most witches usually kick in before they hit double digits. Max was an exception because the trauma of losing his mom set him back a couple of years and even then his powers were starting to come in before her death. Plus, the more powerful the bloodline usually the earlier the powers tend to kick in.”
Phoebe shot Priscilla a wide eyed look as the sisters moved into the room with the older twos' younger counterparts.
“Hey.” Prue said.
“Hi.” Little Prue replied shyly before pointing to the freckle under Prue's eye.
“You got one too.” Prue agreed, poking little Prue's lightly. Then she opened her arms. “Come here.”
Prue hugged little Prue tight, just as Penny entered the room.
“How many times have I told you girls-” She cut off sharply as she spotted Phoebe, Prue, and Piper. Priscilla was still out of sight by virtue of being tucked behind the doorway.
“Um, Grams, we can explain.” Prue tried weakly.
“Warlocks be gone!” Grams shouted as she used her telekinesis to throw the Charmed Ones out of the house. Priscilla darted out the open front door before she could be spotted.
“Grams definitely had her power down.” Prue breathed out once they were down the street and the manor was out of sight.
“She is one scary witch.” Piper agreed. “I don't remember having powers at that age, do you?”
Prue shook her head. “No, I thought we got them for the first time last year.”
Piper shot Priscilla a look. “Apparently not. We must of lost them before we could even remember having them.”
“My guess some kind of binding. Probably done by Grams given that you got them back shortly after she died. But with someone still screwing with my memory I can't give you a definitive answer.” Priscilla shrugged and watched as Phoebe picked up a nearby newspaper.
“Mom is barely pregnant with me. Here-” She thrust the paper towards Piper and Prue “-March twenty-fourth 1975. That's the day that Mom made the pact with Nicholas.”
“So maybe that's why the spell sent us back here, to stop the pact.” Prue theorized.
“Which means it could be the only way for us to get back to our own time. We've got to go see Mom and warn her about Nicholas.” Piper muttered. She crossed her arms so she hugged herself.
“Yeah, but we have to do a better job of convincing Mom then we did Grams. This time we have to use our powers.”
Priscilla swallowed back her explanation that time travel tended to strip a witch of their powers.
“The problem is she's on the lookout for three warlocks now.”
Prue looked over at Priscilla. “Why didn't she see you?”
“You know how premonition works. She must have seen it from Penny's point of view. And since Penny couldn't see me because I was behind the wall neither could Patty. Regardless, I think I'll keep a look out for Nicholas as the only one of us still armed.” Priscilla patted the strap of her bag, glad she still kept at least one athame, and it was more like three, still on the physical plane.
“I'll keep watch too. Since I don't have any powers to show Mom.” Phoebe added.
“That doesn't seem fair to you, Phoebe, not being able to see Mom.” Piper muttered, voice soft. She made an abortive gesture to reach for Phoebe.
“I know. It's not, but I got over that a long time ago. I don't need to see her now. Really, it's okay. We better get going, though, before we miss her.” Phoebe shrugged and focused her eyes on the path ahead.
-
Priscilla paced outside the diner as Prue and Piper slipped inside.
“So... Um... There was something I didn't mention earlier.” Priscilla half muttered as she made another pass.
“I'm not going to like this am I?” Phoebe shot back from where she was leaning against the side of the building, eyes locked on the street.
“So the whole time travel thing...” Priscilla trailed off, grinding her back teeth together.
Phoebe pushed off the wall. “What about it?”
“So... While I kept my powers when I traveled to the nineties that was because the AoDs screwed around with my spell. Most time traveling, to the past at least, actually strips a witch of her powers.”
“Wh-” But before Phoebe could finish the question Patty ran into her, sending them both spinning and spilling the contents of Patty's purse on the sidewalk.
“I'm so sorry.” Patty said quickly as they both bent down to pick up Patty's things.
“Oh, no, it's totally my fault.”
Patty sent her a half smile before dropping her eyes to her stuff. “I'm such a klutz sometimes.” Patty admitted.
“Really? So am I.” Phoebe said, her voice just this side of too breathy as she realized who she was talking to.
“Yeah?”
Phoebe nodded as she picked something up. “Yeah. Crackers?”
“Upset stomach.” Patty explained.
“Uh, you know, you shouldn't be smoking these now.” She picked up a pack of cigarettes. “It's bad for your upset stomach.”
Patty gave Phoebe another half smile. “You're very sweet. Thanks. I gotta go.”
They both stood.
“So soon?”
“Excuse me?”
Nicholas came up before Phoebe could answer. And despite it being Nicholas that was probably for the best.
“Is everything alright?” Nicholas asked, eyes glued to Patty in a way that made Priscilla's skin crawl.
“Yeah, thanks officer. I'm late.” She sent Phoebe one last half smile. “Thanks again.” And then she was gone.
Nicholas started to follow her. “Excuse me. How do you get to Berkeley?” Phoebe rushed to say.
“Get out of my way.” Nicholas responded, shoving Phoebe.
Phoebe responded with a kick, stealing Nicholas's keys and throwing them into the street before running into the diner.
Priscilla used the opening to stab Nicholas with her athame, non-lethal unfortunately, but she couldn't risk the timeline, but enough to give him pause and buy the sisters time.
Nicholas wrenched Priscilla's wrist hard, trying to get her to let go of the blade, which was so not happening. Instead she kicked his knee out from under him, slid her athame back into her bag, and took off after Phoebe.
-
“Is Nicholas wearing his ring?” Piper asked, looking between Phoebe and Priscilla.
“No, not yet.” Priscilla answered.
“Good. That was probably when Nicholas was gonna make his move on Mom.”
Phoebe shook her head. “No, I don't think so, otherwise we'd be back in our time by now.” Phoebe hugged herself.
“Hey, are you alright?” Prue asked softly, reaching for Phoebe's arm.
“Yeah, uh, just seeing Mom for the first time and talking to her, I just didn't expect to feel so...”
“Feel what, good?”
“No, overwhelmed.”
“Well, Mom's car is here, at least we know where she is.” Piper said, gesturing to Patty's car in the manor's driveway.
“Yeah, but the question is, how do we get to her? Grams must have told her about us by now. She probably thinks we're the warlocks.”
“I mean you are, you're just not warlocks, but you are the women from the premonition Phoebe foisted off on her.”
“By the way.” Prue fixed Priscilla with a heavy look. “Why does Mom think it's impossible for her to get pregnant?”
“It could be because she doesn't think the timing lines up, what with her being separated from your father for awhile. Or maybe she thinks she took too many blows to the abdomen while vanquishing demons.” Priscilla shrugged. “Maybe there's some completely mundane problem that makes her believe she can't get pregnant. Honestly I've never heard that that was a problem.” Now Piper on the other hand. She'd heard how she was scared she might never get pregnant. “But she is, so what's it matter why she believes she can't be?” And that must have been a shock to go from not believing you can get pregnant and then getting pregnant not once but twice.
Piper chewed on her bottom lip and shook her head. “Pris is right. It doesn't matter. Our only option is to wait for Nicholas to show. But what are we going to do without our powers?” This time it was Piper who sent her a glare. “And I still can't believe you didn't warn us about that.”
“I couldn't risk it. I'm pretty sure the only reason that wasn't stripped from my memory as well is because unlike the three of you I've very in tune with my magic and I can literally feel when it's blocked off.”
Phoebe frowned. “We're not in tune with our magic?”
“Not in the same way I am. Or even little Piper and Prue are.”
Phoebe's eyes sparked. “Right, little Prue and little Piper still have their powers. We need them.” She gestured for Piper, Prue, and Priscilla to follow her. “Come on.”
The four of them crept into the manor through the back door.
“Coast is clear.” Phoebe who was in the lead whispered.
“What if Grams catches us?” Piper asked.
“She'll kill us before Nicholas has a chance.” Prue answered.
“She won't catch us. Observe.” Phoebe assured as she moved over to one of the heating ducts. She popped it open and Grams and Patty's voices floated through.
“You said yourself the girls are safe with you. Besides, I want to go.” Patty said.
“You are making a big mistake, Patty, Victor is not coming back.” Penny answered, and she was right, but she didn't have to say it.
“How did you...” Prue trailed off, narrowing her eyes at Phoebe.
“Heating duct to upstairs. I used to listen to you guys for hours. Especially when you used to sneak Andy up to your bedroom in high school.”
Priscilla snickered. “Really, my coven and I would just cast eavesdropping spells. Faaar more reliable.”
All three sisters glared at Priscilla. “Do I ever learn to block that?” Piper asked, though she already sounded resigned.
Priscilla continued to laugh. “No. You only thought of trying to put up spells to stop it like three times and every single time we would rewrite our eavesdropping spells to get around the blocks. And the one time we couldn't Morgan just used his invisibility spell to eavesdrop in person.”
“Okay, well, Phoebe, you stay here and keep tabs on Grams and Mom. Priscilla come with us to get our younger selves. You know the most about witchcraft, they might trust you.”
“I mean, it's much more likely that they would trust me less because I know things. Just go.”
Priscilla shooed Piper and Prue off before she remembered something.
“And be careful of little Andy.” She whisper-shouted after them.
Phoebe looked at Priscilla with wide eyes. “Little Andy?”
“Oh yeah. Little Piper keeps freezing him. The cleaners gave up on wiping him. Probably why he's so suspicious of you in your present.”
“Do I want to know what the cleaners are?”
As the memories of the cleaners were hazy at best even if Priscilla wanted to answer that she couldn't.
“Best not.”
Penny's voice floated through the vent before Phoebe could say anything more. “Victor sent me a note. He asked me stop by his hotel after my shift.”
“Dad?” Phoebe asked, leaning closer as if she could get clarity just from proximity.
Priscilla frowned. “No. That doesn't sound right.” Though Priscilla couldn't place why. It crawled under her skin in the same way her sensing did.
“You know it was doomed from the start. You never even took his last name.” Grams said.
“You wouldn't let me.” Patty protested.
“Well, that's beside the point. Why can't you just wear your uniform to see him?”
“Because I don't want him to know I'm a waitress. Look, it can't hurt to talk, right?”
“Well, let him go I say. If husbands were supposed to stay married God would have made them live longer.”
“Mother!” Patty protested even as Phoebe smothered a laugh.
“I mean, to be fair to Penny she was a much different person before she lost her first husband to a rogue witch attack. It was something awful.”
Phoebe sent Priscilla another wide eyed look as if she couldn't quite believe what Priscilla was saying.
“How do you know that?”
Priscilla shook her head. “Now's not the time. They're coming down.”
Phoebe scrambled up to her feet and headed for the living room where Piper and Prue were with the little ones.
And of course they were frozen.
“Oh boy.” Phoebe muttered under her breath at the sight.
Priscilla pressed against the wall before peeking around it to see Patty and Penny coming down the stairs.
“Fine. If you must go, go. I can't stop you. But I also can't promise I won't teach the girls a new spell while you're gone.” Grams threatened.
“Can't you bake cookies with them like all the other grandmothers?” Patty shot back.
“The recipes they learn from me don't come from Betty Crocker dear.”
And they were far more valuable. Too bad Piper and Prue had never a chance to keep them. And it was all Nicholas's fault.
Priscilla slid back over to everyone just as they unfroze. Huh, little Piper's time limit on her freezes was almost as long as current Piper's.
“Whoa, where'd you come from?” Andy asked Phoebe before spotting Priscilla. “And you.”
“Yeah, that's a good question.” Prue muttered.
“You were frozen.” Priscilla tossed out.
“But we don't have time for that. Okay, we gotta go fast. Mom just left and Grams is...”
“Prudence! Piper!” Grams shouted from the next room.
“Coming.” Phoebe finished.
“Go. Go. Go. Go.” Prue ushered everyone towards the door with Piper shushing the two children. Andy following far too closely on their heels.
“I wanna go too.” Andy whined.
“No, Andy, you have to stay here.” Phoebe tried to reason.
“No!”
“Ah yes, the Halliwell curse, attracting friends that are far too loyal for their own good.” Priscilla muttered under her breath, though she was sure no one had heard her.
“Okay, we got it, we got it.” Piper said, holding her younger self up and pushing Phoebe through the door.
Priscilla hurried out ahead.
Once the girls caught up they all climbed into Grams' car. Phoebe and Priscilla squished in the back with little Prue and little Piper while Piper drove and Prue directed her to a local park that should have been far enough from the house to give them a head start. Though it wouldn't do anything since Penny would probably just scry for the girls.
Though really, why she sent the cops after them instead of just using the 'to call a lost witch' spell to summon the girls to her when she assumed the girls had been kidnapped by warlocks Priscilla couldn't fathom.
At the park Priscilla collapsed onto a bench.
“Okay, girls.” Prue said, rolling a ball between her hands. “If we see a bad guy what do we do?”
“She's gonna cry.” Little Prue said, pointing at her younger sister.
“Am not.” Little Piper protested. “I”m gonna freeze him.”
“And then I'm gonna move him.”
“Okay, then we'll take care of him and then we will all....” Prue trailed off to prompt the child versions of the two Charmed Ones.
“Run like the wind!” The two girls said in unison.
“Exactly. Alright, so let's give it a try. Ready?”
Prue threw the ball up. Little Piper froze it and little Prue thew it to the other side of the park.
“Can we do it again?” Little Prue asked, practically bouncing on her toes.
“Yes. Yes. Practice makes perfect. Okay, go try it.”
Little Piper and Little Prue ran off after the ball.
“Those girls have major juice. They have control, they can aim.” Phoebe's eyes went from the girls to Priscilla. “Is that what it's like to grow up with powers?”
“I mean yeah. Arthur, right, he had powers from the womb so by the time he was two, forget about it, he had excellent control. Of course Morgan didn't have his powers from the womb, but his control is even better than Arthur's.”
“So, it's not always about how long you've had your powers?” Prue asked, glancing away from the girls for a second to fix Priscilla under her inquisitive gaze.
“Right. Sure, a certain amount of control comes from the length of time. Take Piper's freezing for example. Little Piper is still on a time limit meanwhile the Piper of my time could freeze and unfreeze at will.”
“That still doesn't explain what happened to our powers.” Phoebe muttered.
“Well, we lost a lot growing up. Somehow we must have lost them too.” Prue frowned and her gaze kept skipping back to Priscilla. Priscilla could only hope that she was thinking back on all the little things Priscilla had been saying since she'd been dropped into the past. She was sure she'd mentioned power binding at some point.
Piper joined them before Prue could ask.
“I finally found a pay phone. Mom is at work until five and Nicholas is on duty until six.”
“Good, at least we know where he is.” Prue nodded towards the little Charmed Ones. “The girls are ready.”
“Well, I'm not.” Phoebe grumbled.
“Why not?” Prue asked.
“Mom died before I could grab onto enough to keep her alive in my head. And now she's here alive, pregnant with me. If we stop Nicholas we have to go back to our own time. And there's no Mom there.”
“We don't have much of a choice Phoebe.” Piper argued.
Priscilla sighed as a cop car pulled up.
-
“I can't believe we got arrested for kidnapping ourselves.” Piper complained as she leaned against the bars of the jail cell they'd been thrown into.
“I can't believe I got arrested.” Priscilla shot back. “If my coven ever hears of this I'm toast.”
Piper sent Priscilla a glare. Priscilla sent a pout back. Piper turned to Prue instead.
“Do you think this is funny? Prue, we're not just stuck in jail, we're stuck in the past.”
Prue sighed. “Bright side?” She offered.
“I dare you.” Piper replied with narrowed eyes.
“Well, maybe we can get to know Mom better. Or, in my case finally. I mean, if we really are stuck here we might as well take advantage of it, right? And maybe we can keep her from dying young this time.” Phoebe spoke up.
“Have you learned nothing from my little trip to the past? If it is not meant to be changed it won't let you change it.”
Before any of the sisters could reply Patty stood outside their cell.
“How'd you know I was pregnant? Who are you people?” Patty demanded.
“Your daughters.” Phoebe answered, staring Patty down, daring her to argue with them.
“Well, they are are. I'm a freeloader from even further in the future than they are.” Priscilla corrected.
Patty looked between them before disappearing back into the main part of the station. A little while later an officer came back and released them. Patty met them out front.
“Okay, I got the charges dropped. You just better not be warlocks.” Patty threatened, her eyes bouncing between the sisters and Priscilla.
“Well, we wouldn't have needed you to get us out if we were.” Prue shot back.
“I've seen some magic in my life, but this is a miracle.”
Priscilla let out a bark of laughter. “It's really not. Trust me. Time travel is old hat.”
“Do I want to know?” Prue asked as she shot Priscilla a look.
“Even if I could tell you I wouldn't. Keeps things interesting you know?”
Piper shook her head. “Where are the little ones?”
“Home with Grams. I called her before I came here. That's how I found out you were arrested.”
“Did you tell her about us?” Prue asked.
“No. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know who you were myself. You're all so beautiful.” She drifted closer to the sisters and Priscilla took a step back. “More than I ever would have imagined.” Her gaze focused on Phoebe. “Phoebe. Phoebe. Talk about miracles. I must have named you after my favorite aunt. But, if you don't like the name I can always change it.”
Phoebe gave Patty a small soft smile that mimicked all Patty's little half smiles.
“No, I love it.”
“Ah, Mom, we cast a spell to come back in time to help you. To stop you.” Prue cut in, ever the practical one.
“To stop me from what?”
“From making a pact with a warlock named Nicholas.”
Patty dropped her eyes and the hand that had been cupping Phoebe's cheek.
“Then you're too late.”
“What?”
“I thought I was going to see Victor, your father.”
Priscilla bit back an amused sound at the fact Patty thought she had to clarify who Victor was to the girls. It wouldn't do to sound amused now. The others would take it the wrong way.
“But it turned out to be a trap.”
“Nicholas.” Prue sighed.
“He tried to kill me.” Patty's hand came up to her stomach. “Phoebe too. I had to give him immunity to your powers in exchange for your lives. I'd rather love you as mortal daughters than have to mourn you as dead witches.”
Piper shook her head. “But he's gonna kill us anyway to get our powers.”
“No.” Patty corrected. “Not until Phoebe's born. And all your powers are complete. I bought us some time in the hopes that Grams could help us. Oh, she's going to be so thrilled when she sees you. The Charmed Ones.”
Patty pulled the sisters into a group hug.
-
Priscilla leaned against the back of the couch, yanking back with a hiss when she put all her weight on her wrist.
“Oh, you're hurt.” Patty said. She'd been about to sit in one of the chairs across from the couch, but she instead rounded the couch to look at Priscilla's wrist. It had bruised up nicely.
And then, before Priscilla could stop her, Patty did the worst possible thing.
“Sam!”
Penny scoffed. “Oh why are you bothering with him? A healing salve will do wonders for that.”
But it was too late, a flurry of orbs filled the room. Phoebe went wide eyed while the other two just looked confused.
When Sam finished reforming Prue straightened her shoulders and moved in front of her sisters.
“Who- How- What?” Piper fumbled.
Patty smiled at her, mistaking her confusion for a need for introduction. “This is my whitelighter. Sam.”
Prue sent a narrowed eyed questioning look in Phoebe's direction at the word whitelighter. Patty didn't notice, too busy gesturing Sam towards Priscilla.
“She's hurt, I think the warlock after me did it.”
“It- Uh- I've got a mixed nature.”
That had Penny's eyebrows going up and Sam recoiled a little, but then gamely continued to stand in front of Priscilla. He held a hand out for her wrist.
“What's a whitelighter?” Piper asked. Some how Penny's eyebrows went up even higher.
“They don't know what a whitelighter is?” Penny asked sharply.
“I know. It's really weird, but for whatever reason the Elders told their assigned whitelighter that he couldn't tell them what he is.” Priscilla shrugged. The warmth of whitelighter healing ran over her wrist. When Sam pulled back the skin was still bruised enough Priscilla could make out the shape of Nicholas's handprint, but her range of motion felt better.
“You had a hairline fracture.” Sam explained. Ah, yes, that would explain it.
“Thanks.” Priscilla shot Sam a grateful smile. He smiled back before turning to Patty.
“You'll have to explain all of this to me later.”
“Yeah, thank you Sam.”
Sam orbed away.
“Why don't they know about whitelighters?” Penny rephrased her earlier question as Priscilla leaned her hip against the side of the couch the girls were on instead of resting her hands against the back and leaning against them.
“The Elders don't walk me through their decisions.” Priscilla grumbled sullenly.
Penny frowned and narrowed her eyes on the sisters.
“Where was I born?” She asked abruptly.
“Mom!” Patty protested.
“I'm still not convinced they're who they say they are. Especially if they don't know what whitelighters are.” Penny defended.
“We have a pact to undo. We should be looking for a spell.”
“Boston.” Prue spoke up. “In a hotel room, breech.”
Penny's sharp eyes roved over the girls.
“What's my husband's name?”
“Which husband?”
Piper and Phoebe laughed, but Priscilla chose to actually answer the question.
“Allen was the love of your life. He was killed when a fellow witch, I believe her name was Robin, betrayed you to a warlock.”
Grams' eyes went to Priscilla instead. Priscilla shrugged, she wouldn't apologize for the information she had.
“And who are you? You're not one of mine. And you mentioned a mixed nature.” Grams' voice went ice cold.
Priscilla yanked down the collar of her shirt. “The King's coven is just a generation behind the Charmed Ones. Unfortunately a simple viewing spell went awry and I was thrown into the 90's and when the girls did the 'unbind a bound' spell I got sucked along with them.”
Patty and Penny's eyes were saucer wide before Grams snapped back to attention and went back to focusing on the girls.
Of course they couldn't handle the shock of Charmed Ones and King's Coven in one day.
Priscilla let go of her shirt collar with a roll of her eyes.
“Who's Melinda Warren?”
Phoebe answered this time. “The beginning of our family line. She gave us our powers. Our destiny.”
“What's the secret ingredient to my blueberry cobbler?”
“Honey with a splash of rum.” Piper answered.
“What's IBM selling at in your time?”
“Mom!” Patty shouted.
“What?”
“It's not the time for personal gain.”
“If they could just nod their heads.” Penny attempted, but Patty didn't let up on her judgmental glare. “Okay, forget it. Well...” She turned back to the girls, eyes bright now that she had proof that they were who they said they were. “Look at you. The three of you. Oh, Patty, I always knew I would deliver the Charmed Ones.” She sent another look towards Patty, a small smile that acknowledged she'd completely overlooked her daughter. “Once removed of course.” She smiled at the girls.
“Prue.”
Prue nodded at her with her own smile.
“Piper.”
Piper gave a small wave.
“And...”
“Phoebe!” Phoebe called out her own name brightly.
“Oh, another P. What a surprise.” Penny said with a little laugh.
“Priscilla's a P too even if she's not a Halliwell.” Piper added.
Priscilla ducked her head, not yet ready to open that can of worms and luckily Patty bought her a reprieve.
“About the pact?” She prodded carefully.
“We must keep the girls safe until we can reverse it. I'll have to bind their powers.”
“Bind our powers?” Piper asked, but the three girls swung their gazes not to Penny and Patty but to Priscilla.
“I told you it was a possibility just based off what I knew of magic.” Priscilla shrugged.
Penny frowned. “What do you mean you brought it up as a possibility? When did you girls get your powers back?”
“We just got them.” Piper admitted.
“What? I unbound your powers without having broken the pact? Why would I do that? I mean unless I died which of course would automatically... Unbind your powers.” Penny took a half step back and sank into her chair. “I guess I'm not going to make it to the next millennium, huh?”
“Uh, speaking of that.” Phoebe started. “Mom-”
Priscilla slapped a hand over Phoebe's mouth just as Penny cut her off.
“No. We mustn't know anymore about the future. You came back for one reason, to break the pact. You mustn't tamper with anything else. It's much too risky. Heaven knows what damage you've already done by coming back here.”
“We haven't done anything.” Prue complained. “We missed our chance to stop the pact.”
“And there's a reason for that. Destiny always gets its own way, it's not as easy to change the past as you think.” Penny's eyes went to Priscilla who glared back. “If you do it incorrectly everything will change. The evil you vanquished, the good that you've done, none of it may have ever happened.”
“Well, we have to change this. We can't go back and let him kill us.”
Hence the reason Priscilla hadn't vanquished his sorry ass before all of this could begin.
“The only way to vanquish him in your time would be for me to unbless the ring and take away its immunity. It's in a drawer in his hotel room.”
“Okay.” Phoebe pushed up from the couch, shoving Priscilla's hand away from her mouth. “Well, let's go to Nicholas's hotel room and steal back the ring. Hopefully it'll be there.”
“No.” Patty protested. “It's too dangerous, you don't have powers. I'll go.”
“That is a supremely bad idea.” Priscilla grumbled.
“Priscilla's right.” Prue agreed. And wow, words Priscilla never thought she would hear. “If something happened to you, future history could change forever. Just like Grams said. We have to go.”
“Well, I'm glad to see you finally learned to listen to me.” Penny said with a smirk that looked far too much like Rose and Wyatt. “You better hurry. In the meantime, I'll write a new spell that will get you back to your own time.”
“You can do that?” Piper asked with wide eyes. “You can send us home?”
Penny continued to smirk, but it had a softer edge to it now. “We're witches, dear, we can do anything.”
Phoebe looked down at her hands before glancing up at Priscilla. “I wish that were true.”
Prue stood and yanked Phoebe to her feet quickly. “Okay, we need to go.”
-
“Why am I not surprised that you know how to do this?” Prue complained as Phoebe picked the lock on Nicholas's hotel room.
“I mean, it's more surprising that you don't know how to do it. It's a very valuable life skill to have.” Priscilla shot back in a hissed whisper from where she was watching from one end of the hall.
“Let's just hope Nicholas isn't inside.” Phoebe muttered, mostly to herself as the door popped open.
“The concierge says he's not and Piper's outside watching for him.”
Phoebe and Prue entered the room and if they said anything more their voices didn't reach where Priscilla was playing look out. They emerged a minute later.
“Is it bad that I miss your transportation magic the most?” Phoebe asked Priscilla as she leaned into her. The three of them rounded up Piper before ducking into the car they'd borrowed from the elder Halliwells.
“Nah. It's very useful magic to have at your disposal. But personally I miss sensing the most. It feels a bit like I'm wandering around with water in my ears.”
Phoebe hissed sympathetically between her teeth.
Once they reached the manor they headed up to the attic where Penny and Patty already waited.
“We have the ring.” Prue said, placing it in Penny's hand. “Here it is.”
“Okay, now what?” Piper added.
“Go back to where you belong.” Penny answered, as if it was that simple.
Luckily Patty seemed willing to elaborate. “Then I will unbless the ring and get it back to the hotel before Nicholas finds it missing.”
“Now remember, there is no time to lose. You will return at the exact moment you left, which means Nicholas will be there too.”
“Hopefully without immunity to our powers.” Piper mumbled.
“We'll be ready.” Prue assured. “Phoebe?”
“Okay, I'm coming.” Phoebe said, hovering uncertainly near the Book of Shadows. Even from where Priscilla was standing she could see what page she was on, the water demon. Priscilla swallowed back a comment. She knew Phoebe would preserve the timeline she knew.
“I love you Mom.” Prue told Patty as she pulled her into a hug.
“I'm never gonna learn to like lima beans Grams, but thanks for everything else.” Piper said with her own hug aimed at their grandmother instead of their mother.
Afterwards Grams turned to Phoebe. “You're going to be a handful, aren't you?”
“You'll learn to love me.” Phoebe replied before turning to hug Patty as well. “I'm gonna miss you.”
Piper, Prue, Priscilla, and Phoebe gathered on one side of the attic as Penny began to recite the new spell she'd written.
A time for everything
And to everything its place
Return what has been moved
Through time and space
Nothing happened.
“Let me help.” Patty moved to stand next to her mother and they repeated their spell.
Lights flickered around the four girls and they blipped forward almost a minute.
“Oops.” Prue muttered when she realized they were still in the 70s.
“What happened?” Grams asked.
“Where did you go?” Patty followed up.
“We didn't go anywhere. We were just standing here, and the next thing we knew...” Piper started.
“We were just standing here.” Phoebe finished for her.
“I told you to use poplar buds.” Patty complained.
“It's a perfectly good spell. I mean it moved them through time.”
“Yeah. Ten seconds.”
Priscilla bit back a laugh at Patty's dry tone.
“I'm telling you, it's not the spell. It must be the power behind the spell, there's not enough power.”
“Maybe we need the Power of Three.” Piper suggested.
“The only problem is it doesn't exist yet.”
“I mean it does.” Priscilla cut in. “Phoebe's already shown she has her powers when she foisted that premonition onto Patty.”
The Halliwells all started at Priscilla as if she'd grown a second head.
“What?” Priscilla protested with a scowl.
“You know an awful lot.” Penny accused.
“And we have bigger fish to fry.” Priscilla shot back.
As if to prove Priscilla's point Nicholas shouted from downstairs, looking for his missing ring.
“You and Piper get the girls.” Penny told Patty. “We'll fend him off.”
Prue, Penny, Phoebe, and Priscilla met Nicholas on the stairs, Grams throwing him with her powers.
“Oh, Grandma, don't get too close, his power.” Prue warned. While the others were distracted Priscilla lunged forward with her athame.
“You!” Nicholas snarled as Priscilla caught him in the shoulder. She twisted the knife as she pulled away. While Nicholas was distracted Phoebe knocked him out.
Apparently Prue had convinced Grams to go back to the attic because it was Prue, Phoebe, and Priscilla who rushed to the attic.
“Alright, we don't have much time.” Prue said as she shut and locked the door behind them.
“What about the ring?” Phoebe asked.
“Don't worry about the ring now.” Grams answered. “Let's just get you back.”
“But it is unblessed, right?”
“Yes, but there wasn't time to test it.”
Phoebe grabbed a camera off one of the side tables and took a picture of Patty with the little ones.
“Then how will we know it works?”
“You won't. Not until you get back. And since time will pick up right were it left off, he won't know either. Goodbye girls. Be good darlings.”
The seven Halliwells hugged even if the two little ones didn't fully know what was going on.
Phoebe, Piper, Prue, and Priscilla went back to where they'd been standing before and this time when the sparkling lights stopped they were no longer in the 70s.
Priscilla flinched as the world rushed back to her sensing.
“It worked. We're back.” Prue sighed.
“Hurry.” Phoebe said, pushing her sisters towards the Book.
“Time is up.” Nicholas snarled as he barged through the attic door. And wasn't that a funny choice of words.
With a squint of Prue's eyes Nicholas went flying.
Prue sighed again. “Ring's unblessed.”
Piper flung out a hand, freezing Nicholas.
“Phoebe, find anything?” She asked.
“How about the 'Nicholas must die' spell?” Phoebe asked, flattening her hands across the pages.
“That wasn't there before.” Piper peeked over Phoebe's shoulder.
“Well, maybe it's just Grams' way of saying, you know, welcome back... or, or, front.” Prue muttered.
“Spell pouch included at no extra charge.”
Prue grabbed a mortar and pestle before joining her sisters at the Book.
“'Lavender, mimosa, holy thistle...'” Phoebe recited as Piper poured the powder from the pouch into the mortar.
“'Cleanse this evil from our midst scatter its cells throughout time, let this Nick no more exist'” The sisters finished together.
Nick spun right out of existence, leaving behind only his ring.
Priscilla sagged. She was so over time travel.