Chapter Sixteen

An Ordinary Day

AN: So, I finally got around to writing! This has taken me forever, as I am running out of inspiration and time! I work full time (40 hours a week), so finding the time is a chore! I would appreciate it if anyone could help me with ideas, please? I have thoughts about a background for Sam and Victor's family as well, As Piper said in the first episode, "And we have a cousin who's a drunk, an aunt that's manic, and a father that's invisible." Leave me a PM or comment!

"Talking." 'Thoughts.' Phoebe having a premonition. "Christy hearing and sending thoughts."

Paige let out a sigh of relief. The day was finally over! To celebrate, she drew herself a hot bath and poured bubble bath into the tub. What a day. After the coffee shop, she made it to class on time. During the class, however, she couldn't stop thinking about the woman from the coffee shop, the one who was about to accuse Paige of stealing her man Marcus. She looked oddly familiar with her facial expressions, but Paige couldn't place it. She let it go and let her mind wander. She wondered if Phoebe was okay in New York, and if Prue and Piper had sold the house or not. 'I should stop by when I have time,' Paige mused.

The day Paige moved out was a week after Phoebe left. Prue and Piper did not know their baby sister was applying to college and got accepted at Berkeley. Paige packed up everything that would fit in a small car and moved on.

TBC

"What if she's moved on?"

Prue looked at Piper's worried face.

"Moved on to what? From what""

"Us," Piper explained, "Think about it, Prue. Paige was an only child for sixteen years. She was only with us for about five."

Prue pursed her lips.

"Paige wouldn't do that," she reasoned.

"Paige wouldn't do what?"

Phoebe walked back into the attic. She had gone downstairs to take a phone call after discussing the spell.

"Nothing," Prue reassured, "Who was on the phone?"

"Aunt Faye."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. She's in town, asked if I knew where Dad's at."

Piper bit her lip.

"She's not coming here, is she?"

"Oh, no. She got a hotel room. Hey, do you think she's lying?"

"About?"

"Not knowing where Dad is. She is his sister."

Prue rolled her eyes. She hadn't seen their father in six months.

"Well, we're his daughters and he hasn't contacted us, so, no, I don't think she's lying."

Conversation clearly over, the sisters dived right into the spell.

TBC

Rachel knew she was busted. She could feel Christy's hard stare as the telepath read her mind. Billie stood beside her sister, avoiding Rachel's eyes.

"Girls, listen, I didn't just do it to you, I did it to the Halliwells, too."

Billie finally looked at her.

"You took their memories, too? Why?"

"I did it, because I thought you weren't ready. You were so young to have experienced everything you have experienced, the Halliwells, too. But now, with your powers back, we can start training."

"Training for what?" Christy inquired.

"To get you prepared for the Triad."

Christy immediately stiffened. She had lied about the demons letting her go. In reality, it was a member of the Triad. She had never taken to heart what the so-called Source of All Evil had said about her. She was half of the Ultimate Power, destined to join with her sister and take out the Charmed Ones should they stray. Their powers were nothing compared to her's or Billie's, once they were fully developed.

"The Triad? Aren't they the most powerful demons?" Billie questioned, clearly frightened at the prospect of coming up against powerful beings so soon.

"Don't you worry, Billie, we won't seek them out now, no. We'll wait," Rachel reassured.

TBC

Paige felt funny. She kept feeling a strong pull in her stomach. Right after her morning class, she hurried to the restroom. Just as she closed the stall door, she was enveloped in swirls of bright light. She reappeared in the the same swirls in the attic of her teenage home. The attic hadn't changed one bit. Great Aunt Pearl's couch was still in the same spot. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were kneeling around a small table.

"What just happened?" Paige asked, confused.

"We summoned you," Phoebe explained. She stood up and hugged her.

"Summoned?" Paige hugged her sister back as she pulled a confused look.

"Yes, summoned. Look, Paige, we summoned you, because we didn't know where you were, if you were safe or not," Prue explained.

"Why wouldn't I be safe?"

"What do you mean 'why'? Paige, what if a Darklighter or demon found you?"

"Er, Darklighter? Demon? What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, boy. You don't have your memories back."

"My memories? Of what?"

Phoebe led Paige to Aunt Pearl's sofa as Prue and Piper stood up.

"Of us having powers. Us being witches," Phoebe said softly.

Paige raised her eyebrows. "Witches?"

"Yes! Prue has telekinesis, Piper can stop time, and I can see the future. You can orb things."

"Oh, okay, good! So I'm not the only one experiencing weird things! It all started about a week ago, I was running late for class when I just sneezed and appeared in my seat!"

"No, uh, Paige, do you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"When we were younger, with powers."

Prue crossed her arms. "Paige, what do you remember before you…left?"

"Uh, Grams died, Phoebe moved to New York…that was in March."

"Okay, and before that?"

Paige looked up, trying to remember anything before the last six months. She came up with nothing.

"Nothing. I don't remember anything. Why don't I remember anything?"

"Look, Paige, we think someone cast a spell to remove our memories. The same time our powers came back."

"Again with the magic terms."

"Yeah, it has to do with your memory. You don't remember you being a witch," Prue explained.

"Whitelighter," Piper added."

"Okay, so who did this? And how do I get my memories back?"

The quad froze in thought. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe had all gotten their memories back, so why didn't Paige get hers? Could this be the work of a demon? But for what reason? Why would a demon remove the memories of four witches, only to give back memories of three?

"We don't know, but we're going to find out," Prue reassured.

"And we can do a spell for your memories," Phoebe added.

Paige nodded.

"Wait. What if there's not a memory spell in the Book?" Piper objected.

"Then we create one and write it down," Phoebe smiled.

TBC

Miles away, Rachel was adding spells of her own to her Book. Billie and Christy were practicing spell writing and were pretty darn good at it. Rachel particularly liked Billie's 'To Complete Homework' spell, even though it was personal gain.

"When can we get to the physical stuff, like learning how to use our powers?" Billie asked.

"When you have mastered spell-casting and potion-making," Rachel retorted. Billie pulled a face.

"Billie, your sister has a passive, inactive power, how do you expect her to defend herself in a fight with a demon?"

Billie put down her pencil. She hadn't thought about it that way.

"Well, telepathy isn't just mind reading, isn't it? I mean, with mind reading, can't she control minds, too?"

Christy smiled. "Yeah, mind control should come with telepathy."

"Eventually," Rachel answered," Along with channeling and replicating."

"Replicating and channeling? What's that?" Christy asked, intrigued. She didn't know that much about her power.

"Tell you later," Rachel smiled knowingly, "For now, let's get back to writing those spells."

Christy frowned a bit. She needed to advance her power. Now.

TBC

"Give that back, Ryleigh!" Rhiannon shouted at her older sister.

"No! It's mine!" Ryleigh countered.

The two little witches were fighting over a doll with three year old Roxana spectating. Rhiannon suddenly let go, making Ryleigh stumble backwards and fall.

"Mom!" Ryleigh yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Shh! Quit being a baby, Ryleigh," Rhiannon cajoled.

"Yeah. Baby," Roxana reiterated.

Ryleigh crossed her arms as she sat on the floor.

"I'm not a baby," she mumbled.

Regina then walked into the room.

"Girls, what's going one? What's wrong, Ryleigh?"

Ryleigh stood up quickly.

"Mom! Rhiannon made me fall!"

"I did not! I just let go of the doll," Rhiannon protested.

"Okay, alright. Why don't you two play with different toys?" Regina suggested.

"But that doll is mine!"

Regina looked up to the heavens for guidance.

"There are other dolls to play with," she said, picking her youngest daughter up, "Just don't use your powers, that's not why you have them."

TBC

"Anything?"

Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige were kneeled around the small table in the attic. Three candles were lit and each sister had a ripped piece of paper with Phoebe's memory spell scrawled onto it. Paige looked from her sisters' expectant faces to the spell. Everything came back to her. From the first time she used her power to the last time she used it. It looked like a feature film in her mind, starring her.

She was sixteen again, orbing out of her parents' car as it rolled over. Then, she was orbing objects, reciting spells with her sisters, and speaking to her father. She remembered Billie and Christy. The Triad…oh, the Triad!

"Yes! Oh, my God. Everything! I'm part Whitelighter! Where's Sam? Are Billie and Christy safe?"

Prue and Phoebe cracked a smile. Piper grinned. The old Paige was back!

"Paige, slow down!" Prue commanded. "Sam...er, we don't know. We figured you went to find him."

"Yeah," Phoebe added, "Last time we saw him was before Grams died."

"But Billie and Christy are safe, as far as we know," Piper said, "Rachel took custody of them."

Paige stopped her rambling. Other details were coming to life. Why hadn't her Whitelighter father or Whitelighter Adam contacted her? Was there something stopping them?

"Where's Adam? Where's Leo?" she questioned.

Prue, Piper, and Phoebe paused. Where were their Whitelighters?

TBC

While Rachel and Christy went over a potion, Billie took the time to look in her aunt's Book of Shadows. The book itself was bound in leather with a mix of yellowed and white parchment. The title page had the history of Warren witches and their contributions to Wicca. The next page was more like a table of contents. Billie flipped to a random section and glanced at the page. The page held information about Whitelighters and included an illustration. As Billie read the page, she couldn't help but wonder if the first ever witch had a Whitelighter. Who came first, the witch or the Whitelighter? She remembered her Whitelighter was Paige's dad, Sam. Did he know what her aunt did?

Billie ran her fingers over the page. It mentioned that one could summon their Whitelighter just by calling their name. Witches could summon their Whitelighters to them in a time of need, but only if they were in the mortal realm, Whitelighters were forbidden in the Underworld and wouldn't be able to hear their charges. The young witch chewed her lip. 'Worth a try,' she thought.

"Sam," she mumbled.

For a moment, Billie didn't think it worked, but then she felt a sense of…something as blue orbs descended from the ceiling. Rachel and Christy both jumped as Sam appeared out of the orbs. Rachel pulled Christy behind her, unsure of the Whitelighter.

"Who are you? Who called you?"

Sam looked around, seeing Billie.

"Billie did. I'm her Whitelighter, Sam."

"Billie's not old enough to have a Whitelighter," Rachel argued.

"The Elders think she is, and her sister. Look, I know I haven't been around much. I have left everything to you, since you are their guardian. The Elders assigned them to me to keep me from my daughter."

"Daughter? Who is your daughter?"

Rachel only knew of one half Whitelighter. Paige Halliwell.

"Paige. Paige Matthews. You're her…cousin? I believe."

"You said Matthews."

"Yes, she was adopted. Her mother and I gave her up. Now, Billie, why did you call me?"

Billie blushed and looked at the floor.

"Well, I, um, just wanted to see if it would work," she murmured.

"That's okay," Sam assured, "But try not to do that often, only call me when you really need me, like to heal you or your sister, okay?"

Billie nodded and watched as Sam orbed out. Rachel sighed.

"The Elders must think you're ready as well," she stated.

"We are," Christy said convincingly.

"Right," Rachel nodded, "Well, let's finish up this potion. Billie, could you hand me a clean vial? They're in that cabinet."

Rachel pointed to a small black cabinet on the opposite wall. "And the stoppers should be on the shelf above."

Billie nodded and brought her aunt the glass vial and stopper. "Should we visit the Halliwells?" she asked.

Rachel paused. "Um, no. They're probably too busy. Look, girls, being a witch is tons of hard work. I know you want to get to the fun stuff, like using your powers, but it takes time. I want you both to be ready whenever a demon attacks. Now, come on. We're going to the park."

"The park?" Christy questioned.

"Yes," Rachel confirmed, "We could all use a walk."

TBC

"So, you're coming home for winter break?" Prue held her baby sister's hand.

"Mhmm," Paige answered, "Promise."

"Yay!" Phobe wrapped her arms around Paige.

"Do you need anything before you go?" Piper inquired, always the mother hen.

"Nah, I'm good, thanks," Paige said.

She wrapped her arms around her three sisters and hugged them hard. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe hugged back, and Prue kissed her hair.

"Be safe," she whispered.

"I will," Paige assured.

The three older Halliwells took a step back as Paige orbed out in blue orbs.

"Now what?"

Prue and Piper looked at Phoebe.

"What? We found Paige, defeated Javna, what else is our destiny going to throw at us?"

"Don't ask that. That is asking for trouble," Prue scolded.

"Yeah, like we need that," Piper murmured.

The trio stood, not knowing what else to say. Prue's thoughts turned to her new job and bosses. She had an uneasy feeling around the two of them, but she passed it off as being nervous. Piper went back to what happened at the church. She was a good witch! Although, she could do without the demons and warlocks. Phoebe's mind flipped through the Book. She had learned so much already, but there was still loads more she didn't know or understand.

"Er, I think I'm going to study the Book," Phoebe said. Prue and Piper nodded.

"No magic," Prue warned.

"Alright, alright, Mom," Phoebe joked as she went up the stairs.

"Are you hungry? Think I'll make something," Piper suggested.

"I'll test it," Prue volunteered.

"Of course you will, you're always my guinea pig!"

Laughing, the two held hands as they walked to the kitchen.