DISCLAIMER: If it comes from Charmed, I don't own it. I do own Pollux, but she's not bitter about her sister's success. Enjoy!!

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“Piper, have you seen my sunglasses?” Prue walked into the conservatory and started moving and shuffling things around in her quest.
Piper had been cleaning the house all morning and the conservatory was her last room. She turned around and immediately scolded Prue for moving things around. “Hey! I just arranged that!”
“I need my sunglasses. I’m getting ready to leave for the brochure shoot and I need my sunglasses.”
“They’re on the table in the foyer. I put them there because I knew you would need them.”
“Thanks, Piper. Where is everybody?”
“Phoebe and Paige are at work and Pollux went out for a little while.”
“Where?”
“Not sure. She mumbled something about being overtaken by boredom, and headed out the door. She promised she would be back in time for a late lunch.”
“Make sure she takes her pill . . . with lunch and dinner.”
“I will.” Piper paused as she and Prue heard the door open and close. “Pollux?”
“Yeah, Piper. I’ll be in the living room.” Pollux’s voice echoed in from the foyer.
“Okay!” Piper returned her attention to Prue. “Any idea what time you’ll be home tonight?”
“No. The people who own the bed and breakfast want me to take some sunset and some evening shots . . . you know, to give the place a more romantic feel . . . then I have to drive home.”
“At least the pay’s good.”
“Yeah, and we could use it right about now. Is Paige still thinking about quitting her job?”
“Yeah. I told her to do what would make her happy.”
“I’m all for that - but the pay is good too.”
“Well, even if she quits, there’s still you, me, and Phoebe with good income . . . and Pollux said something about . . .”
“No! She’s not ready.”
“Prue, it would just be at the club. I’m not going to overwork her . . . we can’t keep her in the manor for the rest of her life. If Paige quits her job, we’re going to be a seven person household on a three person income.”
“And we’ll be fine. The club is doing good. Phoebe has more publicity than she can handle, and I have a few of these really good paying jobs lined up. The emergency fund is still stable, right?”
“The emergency fund has more than enough . . . I’m asking for Pollux’s sanity, as much as anything. She can’t spend every day in this house with nothing to do.”
Before Prue could reply the house was flooded with loud, intense sounding music. The music seemed to be coming from the living room so that is where Prue and Piper headed. Just as they reached the doorway, the boom of a bass drum was heard, followed by a menacing voice that echoed ‘Resident Evil’. Prue and Piper found Pollux sitting on the couch, a video game controller in her hand, and the television blaring.
“What’s that?”
“Video game.”
“We don’t have a video game system.”
“Do now.”
“Pollux, those are mind-numbing, monotonous wastes of time.”
“Let me go surfing.”
“You’re not ready for that much strenuous activity.”
“Then I’m keeping it.”
Prue threw up her hands, shook her head, and started walking back out. “Fine. I’m leaving for my shoot now.”
“Have fun. Be careful.” Pollux’s eyes never left the screen and her hands were already skillfully operating the controller.
“See you in the morning, Piper.”
“Alright. Be careful.”
“Do not let her drive you crazy with that thing.” Prue then walked out the door and Piper seated herself next to Pollux to try and figure out the attraction to these things.

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“DAMN ZOMBIES!!!!” Pollux’s voice rang throughout the manor.
“Did you die again?” Piper yelled in from the kitchen. She had forced herself to step away from the game half an hour ago to start dinner. Piper didn’t think she would enjoy the playing of the video game so much, but she was enjoying watching Pollux. Piper looked up to see Pollux coming into the kitchen.
“Do you know it’s three o’clock already?”
“Yeah, you’ve wasted the better part of an afternoon with that thing.”
“At least I have something to do now.” Pollux looked up as Paige came in through the back door carrying a cardboard box. “I think we have a new person joining the ranks of the unemployed.”
Piper turned around and saw Paige. “It would seem so.”
“Now I can devote my time fully to our wiccan duties. Be all I can be . . . or something like that.”
“Paige, are you sure?” Piper looked at her sister sternly.
“As long as you’re sure we can afford it.”
“We can afford whatever makes you happy, Paige.”
“Good. I’m going to take this up to my room . . . or what used to be my room, before Cole became human . . . and then I’m heading to the attic to start my career as a full time witch.”
“That’s still your room. You just don’t sleep there as much.”
“I know. But what kind of sister would I be if I didn’t gripe about it every chance I got to anybody who would listen?”
“A nice one . . .”
“But not a normal one . . . see you guys in a little while.” Paige headed off towards the steps.
“What are you making?” Pollux asked Piper once Paige had left.
“Angel food cake.”
“Isn’t there a recipe in that book that contains chocolate?”
“Pollux . . .”
“Alright, alright” Pollux threw up her hands. “I’m going to go back to defending the world from the evil Umbrella Corporation.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Piper smiled as Pollux walked off. There were recipes in the book that contained chocolate, Piper was just holding off on those for a little while.

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Pollux wandered up to the attic about forty - five minutes later. She found Paige dropping ingredients into a pot and lighting candles.
“Phoebe called. She’s going to be late. Piper sent me to tell you that unless you were really, really hungry we would wait until she got home to eat dinner.”
“That’s fine with me.”
“What are you doing?”
“I wrote a spell. You’re just in time actually. I could use your help.”
“Spell for what?”
“To help Piper and Leo.”
“Mine and Prue’s room is right next to Piper and Leo’s. Trust me, they don’t need help.”
“Pollux! You shouldn’t be listening.”
“Who’s doing it on purpose? You can . . .”
“Nevermind. That’s not what this is about anyway. Well, not really. See Piper and Leo are arguing about whether or not to have kids. They want them, but Piper thinks that any baby would be in too much danger around this house.”
“She may have a point.”
“Leo thinks there’s enough magic here to protect it. So we’re going to conjure a baby. Find out who’s right.”
“Conjure . . . a baby. Do you hear yourself, right now? What if something happens to it?”
“It doesn’t really exist. No harm, no foul. Right?”
“Wrong. If it’s one thing Prue has drilled into my head over and over, it’s the personal gain rule.”
“There is no personal gain here. We say a little rhyme, burn a paper, drop it into a pot, a baby appears, and after it’s served it’s purpose it leaves.”
“And when would that be . . . the purpose serving?”
“When Piper has made a decision.”
“That could take a while. You don’t just make a decision like that.”
“Well then, it takes a while. Either way, this needs to be done.”
“So, let me get this straight. You quit your job to conjure things for indecisive people.”
“No. But can you think of a better spell to kick off my career?”
“Lots, actually.”
“Are you going to help me or not? I may not have enough firepower.”
“Fine. But when this goes horribly, horribly awry . . . they get told it was your idea.”
“Good. I’ll take all the thanks.”
“What do I have to do?”
Paige motioned her over and took her hand. “Just have to change the me to us . . .” Paige did so on the spell paper. “Write our question . . .” Paige wrote out ‘Should Piper and Leo have a baby?’ on a piece of paper and crumpled it up. Paige then held the paper over one of the candle flame and prepared to light it and drop it in the pot. “Now, let’s say the spell.”
“A question burns within this flame
The question in a sister’s heart the same
Let us and this candle’s fire
Lead our sister to her heart’s desire”

Piper was walking towards her room when she heard the small explosion from upstairs. She looked around cautiously for a second then proceeded to the base of the attic steps. “Paige? Pollux?” No answer. This did not please Piper. ‘If it had been a demon attack, they would have yelled, wouldn’t they? If they had time . . . but what if they didn’t?’ Piper hurriedly ascended the steps and flung open the attic door, totally unprepared for the sight that befell her.

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“Bay Mirror, this is Phoebe Halliwell speaking.”
“Phoebe.” Piper sounded desperate. “I need you to come home right now.”
Phoebe glanced quickly around her office to make sure no one could hear her. “Piper, what’s wrong? Is it a demon?”
“A demon I could handle . . . this, well this is beyond me.”
“Piper, I told you I had to work late. Elise wants me to do an article, I’m a little behind on the column . . .”
“Phoebe, you’re a writer. You can write anywhere. That’s what writers do. Now, I need you home, now!”
“Alright, have Paige orb over and get me!”
“Not an option.”
“Why not? When I called earlier you said Paige quit her job to devote all her time to . . . other interests . . .” a horrible thought dawned on Phoebe. “Oh God, you want me to come home because of Paige. It has something to do with Paige, doesn’t it.”
“Well, that is part of our problem.”
“I’ll be there as soon as possible. Just let me tell Elise I’ll fax or email my work and I’ll be right there.”

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“Piper!! Piper, I’m home!!! Piper!” Phoebe was frantic, she had no idea what would be waiting for her. And she was in no way prepared for what came down the steps.
“Eebee! Eebee! Eebee ‘ome!!!” a small girl who could be no more than three launched herself into Phoebe’s arms.
“Paige!” Piper was right behind the small girl, carrying another child on her hip. “Paige, what did I tell you about the stairs?”
“Uh, Piper . . . who is this and why are you calling her Paige?” Phoebe was staring at the child who was hugging her legs tightly.
“THAT is Paige! Seems our sisters cast a little spell.” Piper waved a paper at Phoebe.
“So is that . . .”
“Uh huh . . .”
“Oh God! Well, when does it reverse?”
“Oh that’s the best part. Our sisters cast an open-ended spell.”
“What?!?!?” Phoebe grabbed the paper out of Piper’s hand. She read it quickly. “So . . . make your decision!”
“That paper says ‘sister’ . . . it doesn’t say Piper! Why do you assume it’s me?”
“Because they’re small children . . .”
“Well, you and Cole are trying to sort out your future, too!”
“We’re trying to decide whether or not to get married. They’re not dressed as a bride and groom.”
“Eebee mad?” Paige looked so pitiful when she said it.
Phoebe bent down to her sister’s level. “No, sweetie, I’m not mad.”
“But Eebee yell.” Paige linked her arms around Phoebe’s neck. Phoebe stood, supporting the rest of Paige’s weight with her arms.
“Yes, well . . . Phoebe is very, very tired.”
“Phoebe needs a nap.” Piper scoffed to Paige. Phoebe kicked her sister in the shin.
“Piper needs to make a decision.” Phoebe said through clenched teeth and a smile.
“That’s not a decision you just make, Phoebe.” Piper was smiling as well.
“Then we’re gonna have to go to the store. They’re going to need clothes. Because trust me, if that oversized Yankees t-shirt you have Pollux dressed in gets messed up, we will hear about it later.”
“Well, then I guess we’re headed to the store.”
“One of us is . . . we don’t have car seats until we go to the store.”
“Do we need all that stuff? I mean how long can they be stuck this way?”
“You’re the one who decides that, remember?”
Piper thought a minute. “Okay, we’re gonna need a double stroller, sippy cups, lots of clothes, pajamas, toys . . . we have to keep them occupied . . .” Piper’s eyes went wide for a moment. “And apparently, diapers.” Piper held Pollux out, revealing the wet spot on her shirt. Piper looked at Pollux. Her eyes conveyed fear and her bottom lip was trembling. “Okay, I’m doing something wrong with her.”
Phoebe tried to control her laughter. Once she got a look at Pollux’s face, it was easier to control. Phoebe set Paige on the ground and took Pollux from Piper. “Oh my God . . . she’s tense!”
“I told you I was doing something wrong.”
“No, you were holding her right and she hasn’t calmed down any since I took her. Wait, a tense two-year-old shouldn’t be this quiet. She should be screaming her head off and crying.”
“She hasn’t cried or attempted to talk since I found them. And I heard the explosion from the spell, so it couldn’t have been that long. Wait . . .” tumblers in Piper’s brain were falling into place. “Paige, so far has been a normal three-year-old and Pollux is anything but a normal two-year-old.”
“So?”
“So what if they’re behaving like they actually did when they were two and three. What if they’re brains are in that time frame?”
“Oh God! Pollux and the foster families . . . and . . .” Phoebe pulled Pollux’s head on her shoulder. “Oh baby, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“We’re in so much trouble . . .” Piper put her head in her hands.
“No, we’re not. We just have to show her we’re not like everybody else . . . that we’re her sisters and we love her and we’ll protect her.”
“Is she calming down any?”
“No.”
“Alright, we have to get some stuff. So I’ll take Pollux and get her cleaned up, while you go shopping.”
“Okay, I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

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An hour and a half later, Phoebe came home carrying several bags. She walked into the living room to find it a mess and Piper chasing Paige around. Pollux was watching everything from her seat on the floor, not doing much and not looking any better than she had when Phoebe left. Phoebe dropped the bags and caught Paige as she ran into the foyer. Piper caught up with them.
“Okay, I’ve made my decision . . . I don’t want kids.”
“Well, they’re not changing back, so the universe isn’t buying that either. What did she do?”
“Will you please explain to your sister that the remote control is not a chew toy.”
“Yes.” Cole came walking into the manor at just about that point.
“Hey, Phoebe. Whose the kid?”
“Paige.” She watched his eyes go wide. “Pollux is in there. Can you go to the Jeep and unload the rest of the baby supplies. I’ll explain later.” Deciding he wasn’t ready for an explanation, Cole did as ask. Phoebe grabbed a sippy cup from one bag, shoved it into a bag with clothes and looked at Paige. “Okay, you and I are going to get dressed and get some juice while Piper dresses Pollux.” Phoebe pointed to a bag on the ground. “There’s diapers and clothes in there and somewhere around here is a pacifier . . . I think that may be good for her.” Phoebe carried Paige towards the bathroom while Piper picked up the bag Phoebe indicated and headed for Pollux.

Phoebe and a very cute looking Paige came waltzing into the living room a few minutes later. “Pi - ya! Eebee said me sees Cinner’ella.”
“She did?” Piper had Pollux sitting on her lap. Pollux was dressed in jeans and a little t-shirt with a dog on it, while Phoebe had put Paige in a pair of little white shorts and a baby blue shirt with kittens on it. Phoebe had also pulled Paige’s hair into two ponytails. “And did she say why you got the cute outfits while your sister mainly has t-shirts and jeans?”
“Please, you’ve seen our sister. I put her in anything cute and fluffy, she’ll kill me when she gets back to normal.”
“But you did buy some things right?”
“Of course.” Phoebe popped the new DVD in the machine and started it. Paige settled back into the couch and looked perfectly content watching the movie while leaned against Piper. Phoebe seated herself in a chair across from her sisters. “You know, that suits you.”
“Ha!”
“How’s Pollux?”
“Maybe a little less tense. I can’t get her to take the pacifier though.”
“Let me try.” Phoebe took the pacifier from Piper and knelt down in front of her sisters. “Here you go, Pollux. Here’s something just for you.” Pollux looked very unsure at the whole situation. She stared at Phoebe a minute, but didn’t dare move. “It’s okay, baby. You can have it.” Phoebe slowly moved it to within inches from Pollux’s mouth. Pollux looked at the pacifier a moment, got Phoebe’s meaning, and carefully grabbed Phoebe’s hand and guided the pacifier to her mouth. After a little while she leaned back into Piper and started watching the movie with Paige, while contentedly sucking on the pacifier.
“Well, that’s something. Too bad, I don’t think the worst is behind us.”
“Piper! Phoebe! Paige! Pollux! I got all the shots I needed early. I’m home! Where is everybody?!?!” Prue’s voice drifted in from the kitchen and Piper and Phoebe exchanged horrified glances.

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“ROO!!!!!”
Prue pulled her head out of the refrigerator and looked out over the kitchen. She was sure she had heard something, but there was no one to be seen. Which was weird. Where was everybody? Something was definitely going on here. The manor had an air of foreboding, and Prue was going to get to the bottom of it. She started through the house at a quick pace only to have Phoebe step in front of her right in the foyer.
“Prue! You’re home. We thought you’d be later.”
“Yeah, well, I got all the shots I needed early.” Prue tried to get past Phoebe, but Phoebe stepped with her. “Phoebe, what’s going on?”
“Going on? What makes you think something is going on?” Phoebe laughed.
“Oh, I don’t know . . . maybe, because you’re not letting me through the house.”
“Okay” Phoebe knew they couldn’t hide it forever. “You have to stay calm. It’s imperative.”
“Phoebe . . .” Prue was close to growling.
“Uh, uh . . .Paige quit her job today.” Phoebe chickened out.
“I knew she was thinking about it. As long as she’s happy I don’t care and if being a full time witch makes her happy, then it’s okay.” Prue tried to walk again and Phoebe stopped her.
“Well, she started her new career today.”
That did not sound good. Prue eyed Phoebe “Meaning?”
“She cast a little spell, with Pollux’s help.”
“What kind of spell?”
“One to help Piper and Leo.”
“Phoebe that’s personal gain! There will be a backfire! Where are they?”
“See . . .”
“Where, Phoebe?”
“Living room.” Phoebe knew fighting was no use. Phoebe fell in step behind Prue as she stormed towards the living room.

“ROO!!!!” Paige launched herself at her big sister, literally using the dumbstruck Prue as a jungle gym and climbing up her big sister. Prue stood in silent shock a moment, her arms instinctively holding Paige. Paige planted a big sloppy kiss on her sister.
Prue regained her ability to speak. “Who is this?”
Piper stood up, still holding Pollux. “That is Paige.”
Prue thrust Paige into Phoebe’s hands. Paige immediately pushed herself into Phoebe and hid her face in Phoebe’s neck. “And who is that?” Prue pointed. Pollux immediately got tenser in Piper’s arms, but she didn’t move, she was too afraid.
Piper stroked her little sister’s hair. “This is Pollux.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Well, it’s true!” Phoebe snapped back as she swayed back and forth with Paige.
“I haven’t even been gone a whole day! How the hell did this happen!”
Pollux actually gripped Piper tighter. Piper glared at Prue. “They cast a spell to show me my heart’s desire on the children front. So this is my fault!”
“No! It’s the fault of whoever’s little wiccan butt cast this crazy spell!”
“Prue, they worded it wrong, okay? It was an honest mistake.” Phoebe consoled Paige who started to cry a little.
“You have to calm down!” Piper held Pollux closer.
“Calm down! Calm down? How the hell am I supposed to calm down? When I left here this afternoon, they were twenty-four and twenty-five! Now they’re toddlers! What if a demon attacks?!?!?”
Phoebe stepped forward. “There are still three of us. We can still defend ourselves and them. They obviously didn’t mean to end up as little kids. Oh, and another thing - they’re in the same mind set they were when they were actually those ages! So, you’ve probably just traumatized Pollux to no end! She hasn’t been reacting to us until five minutes ago - so thanks a lot for that!”
Prue looked over at Pollux, whose pacifier had fallen from her mouth a little while ago. She had her head buried in Piper’s neck, and she was holding onto Piper as if Piper were some sort of lifeline. Prue took a deep breath and stepped towards Piper and Pollux. Pollux tensed even further, and gripped Piper tighter - if that were possible. Piper swayed back and forth and cooed to Pollux.
“Shhh . . . shhh . . . it’s okay, little one. It’s okay. Prue isn’t mad at you.”
Pollux just snuggled deeper into Piper.
“Why isn’t she crying? Paige is crying.”
“Apparently Pollux doesn’t cry.”
“All little kids cry.”
“Not if they’re afraid it will get them hurt.”
Prue’s heart went out to Pollux and she took another step. Pollux tensed again. “Stop!” Piper commanded. “She’s not even close to letting you near her.” Piper bent over and picked up the pacifier. “We’re going upstairs to try and calm down. Make up with Paige, then come up.” Piper and Pollux headed upstairs.
Prue turned to Phoebe and Paige. Paige’s tears were starting to dry up. Prue reached for her.
“NO!!!” Paige was adamant.
Prue exhaled deeply. “Paige, I’m sorry.”
“ROO! YELL!!” Paige’s face went back to Phoebe’s neck.
“Yes, yes I did. And I’m sorry. Prue’s just a little surprised that’s all.”
“Roo need nap!”
Phoebe laughed at Paige’s imitation Piper earlier. Prue rolled her eyes.
“Maybe. Come here.” Prue extended her arms. Paige hesitated for a minute, then crawled into her them. Prue rocked her back and forth as she talked to Phoebe. “So how long does this last?”
“Until Piper makes a decision.”
“They cast a spell that depends on an emotional decision?”
“Pretty much. Best I can tell, they were actually trying to conjure a baby and they worded it really, really wrong.”
“How bad is Pollux?”
“Pollux, just tries to remain unseen. Apparently by two, she had adopted the out-of-sight, out-of-mind philosophy.” Phoebe ran a hand over Paige’s hair. “It’s really scary.”
“Well, we wanted to know where she was coming from.”
“Not like this, we didn’t.”
Prue looked Paige’s outfit over. “So, somebody went shopping.”
“Had to. It could be a while before Piper makes up her mind.”
Prue kissed the top of Paige’s head. Paige had forgotten the earlier argument and had returned to her movie. Prue handed her back to Phoebe. “I need to go see how much damage, I’ve done.”
“Slowly, Prue. Slowly and carefully.”
“Right.”

Leo had orbed in front of Piper as she was coming out of the bathroom from washing off Pollux’s pacifier. He went to kiss her, but noticed the child in her arms.
“Piper, is there something you need to tell me?”
“Paige and Pollux were trying to help us see if we could protect a baby in this house. They ended up turning themselves into kids.”
“And this would be . . .”
“Pollux.”
“Well hello Pollux . . .” Leo moved towards her, but stopped when Piper took a step back. “I do something wrong?”
“This is Pollux with issues. Apparently she’s dealt with a lot of them as she got older.”
“Really?” Leo was surprised.
“Yeah.” Piper and Pollux walked into the bedroom. Pollux laid Piper on the bed and grabbed a stuffed dog from a bag she had asked Cole to bring up earlier. She then tried to keep Pollux’s attention on it as she was lying next to her. Moving the dog back and forth and talking silly. “Oooo, look at the dog, Pollux. It’s a cute dog, yes it is. Cute like Pollux.” For the first little bit Pollux did nothing, but gradually she reached for the dog and let Piper play with her.
“You’re good at that. See, we should have kids.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . I’m still not convinced we can protect them.”
“Looks like we’ll find out.”
“I just hope they didn’t cast a spell that’s going to get them hurt.” Piper turned around to the light knock on the door. Prue was standing there.
“Hi.”
“Hi. Feel better?”
“Relatively speaking. I’ll yell at them when they’re normal again.”
“I bet you yell at Paige before she’s normal again.”
“You don’t think Pollux will do something to make me yell?”
“Doesn’t matter. You can’t yell at Pollux.”
“I’m getting that. Can I try to hold her?”
“Grab the pacifier from the table. I’ll sit with her on my lap and you can try and get her to take it.” Piper informed her while still making faces at Pollux.
“I’ll leave you three alone.” Leo kissed Piper quickly. “See you later.” With that he orbed out.
“Ready, Prue?”
“I’m ready, I think.”
“Okay, just remember . . . slow and quiet.”
“Right.”
Piper sat up with Pollux on her lap. Prue moved slowly towards them. “Hi, Pollux. Hi, it’s your big sister Prue. You know me, right. You know I’d never hurt you.” Prue kept moving towards Pollux slowly, trying to gain her trust.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pollux eyed Prue cautiously. She pushed herself a little farther back into Piper, but didn’t seemed too horribly distressed. Prue decided to try and appeal to her again. “Pollux, baby, come on. It’s Prue! You know, Prue. I wouldn’t hurt you for anything. Come on, Pollux. I know there’s still part of adult you in there somewhere . . .” Prue was growing desperate.
Pollux turned her head up and looked at Piper. Piper smiled at Pollux, “Who’s that? Is that, Prue? Yes it is . . . It’s your big sister, Prue. She’s a little loud sometimes, but she would never hurt you . . . no she wouldn’t.”
“Thanks.” Prue’s sarcasm came through.
“I’m trying to help here. Don’t blow it.” Piper said through clenched teeth and a forced smile.
Pollux looked back at Prue, more specifically Prue’s hand. Pollux extended her little hand and Prue became overjoyed at the fact that Pollux was reaching for her. She didn’t push it, though. She had done enough damage - now she had to let Pollux come to her. In the swiftest, most confident movement Piper had seen Pollux make all day, Pollux jerked the pacifier out of Prue’s hand, popped it in her mouth, and snuggled back into Piper.
“What the . . .”
“Don’t” Piper cautioned. “I think she’s testing you. See how far she can go before you hit her.”
“I’m not going to hit her.” Prue forced a smile.
“She doesn’t know that.” Piper noticed Pollux calming a little in her arms. She was still tense, but not like when they had first came upstairs. “Okay. I’m going to hand her to you. Just be careful.” Piper extended Pollux slowly towards Prue and Prue gently accepted her. Pollux squirmed slightly when she started leaving Piper’s hands, went really tense again when Prue first held her, and remained like a little statue when Prue had her on her hip. Prue held fast and ran a hand through Pollux’s hair.
“Well?”
“Tense.”
“That’s normal. At least from what we can tell.”
“If I ever meet any of those . . .”
“Not now, Prue. She knows when you’re angry and that’s not good.” Piper continued playing with Pollux with the stuffed dog - lightly tapping the dog on Pollux’s nose. After a couple of times, Pollux started moving a bit again and reacting to the dog, going as far as grabbing at the dog.
Piper let Pollux hold the dog. Prue then kissed her little sister on the cheek. “Come on, baby. Let’s go see your big sister and try and figure out how to change you guys back.” Prue walked out of the room carrying Pollux, Piper right behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Pawucks!” Paige’s face lit up when her little sister was carried back in the room. Joy for Pollux was immediately followed enthusiasm for the dog. “Doggie!”
Prue sat on the couch holding Pollux and keeping Paige’s hand away from the Pollux’s dog. “Little help here.”
Phoebe found one of the bags and pulled out a coloring book and crayons. “Here, Paige. You want to color?”
“No! Doggie!”
“Paige, that’s Pollux’s dog. You can color.”
“Doggie!”
“Paige, Pollux really, really wants the doggie right now” Prue tried to reason.
“Doggie!”
Piper picked Paige up from the couch. “Alright, little missy, you will leave your sister’s dog alone.” Paige began squirming in Piper’s arms and Piper was losing her grip. Paige managed to get Piper to drop her enough so that her legs were dangling at Piper’s thighs. Paige kicked hard, causing Piper to loosen her grip enough for Paige to manage to squirm to the floor.
“Paige!” Piper rubbed her thigh.
Paige paid her no mind. She ran and jumped up on the couch next to Pollux and Prue, reaching once again for the dog. Prue picked Paige up swiftly with the other arm. Paige decided the squirming trick was in order again. Prue tightened her grip. “You really want to try that with me?” Prue narrowed her eyes at Paige.
Paige realized just how close she was to trouble. Whatever was left of the adult in her brain knew better than to push this. She decided a different tact was in order. She laid her head on Prue’s shoulder. “Wuv you.”
“Oh now you love me, do you?”
“Wuv, Roo.”
“Oh no you don’t.” Piper grabbed Paige from Prue’s hands. She turned off the DVD that was still playing and plopped Paige into the chair. “You are in trouble, young lady. You sit there until I tell you that you can get up.”
“Culer book?”
“No! Time out. You are in trouble.”
Paige leveled her eyes at Piper, then started to get up. Piper picked her up and returned her to her spot on the chair. Paige repeated the process as did Piper - and one more time. “Paige!” Piper was losing her temper. “Paige Matthews! You stay in that chair and do not move until I tell you that you can!”
“Pi - ya mean!”
“You think I’m mean now? Try getting out of that chair again before I tell you I can.” Piper threatened. Paige huffed, crossed her arms over her chest, and fell back into the chair. Phoebe started laughing and Piper turned and narrowed her eyes at her, which silenced her instantly.
Prue was trying to play with Pollux with the dog, but Pollux was having none of it. “Guys, I think we have a problem here. She’s not acting right.”
“She hasn’t been since the spell.”
“Pawucks hungwy.”
“What?” Piper turned to Paige
“Hungwy.”
Piper turned to Prue, “You think she’s right?”
“What have you fed them?”
“Juice.”
“No, fed them.”
“We’ve been a little busy.”
“So what have they eaten?”
“Well, I guess Paige had lunch at the office . . . and Pollux had a chicken salad around two.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m betting Paige is right. The poor kid is hungry.”
“I’ll go fix them something.”
“Piper, that will take a while. Come on throw some stuff in a diaper bag, we’re going to Applebees.”
“Me ge’ up now?”
Piper turned around. “Yes. But you will leave your sister’s dog alone and you will behave at Applebees.”
“K. Yay! We goin apbez!” Paige ran towards the foyer.
Piper looked at Prue, “Now why don’t I believe she’s going to behave at the restaurant?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The waitress at Applebees had seated the Halliwell girls in a booth. Prue and Piper were seated on one side with Pollux between them, Phoebe and Paige had the other side to themselves. The older girls spent a few minutes deciding on their order, while Paige colored and Pollux played with her dog. Then the older siblings set about the task of figuring out what to get the younger ones. Paige was easy.
“Getti!” Paige demanded on no uncertain terms.
“Alright, sweetheart, you can have spaghetti.” Phoebe kissed Paige’s head and Paige returned to her coloring.
“How about you little one?” Piper petted the stuffed dog Pollux was holding. “What would you like?” Piper sighed and looked to Prue when Pollux remained as silent as she had all day.
Prue leaned down to Pollux’s level “They have spaghetti, hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, chicken tenders, grilled cheese . . .”
“Ch’ten tenners.” Paige stated simply from across the table.
“What, honey?” Phoebe questioned.
“Pawucks want ch’ten tenners.”
The older girls looked at each other. They were unsure whether or not Paige really knew what Pollux wanted, but at the moment, it was all they had to go on. After they gave their order to the waitress, Phoebe helped Paige with her coloring while Prue and Piper played with Pollux and the dog.
“ ‘ook, Pi - Ya!” Paige held up her coloring so Piper could see.
“Very good, sweetie. I like it very much.”
Paige beamed. Her smile dropped slightly when Piper went back to paying attention to Pollux, but she was content for the moment and returned to her coloring. That lasted all of five minutes. That was when Paige remembered that she had wanted the stuffed dog earlier. As a matter-of-fact, she still wanted it now. Paige pulled lightly on Phoebe’s shirt. When Phoebe looked at her, Paige stood up in the seat and whispered in Phoebe’s ear. “Me wan doggie.”
“No, Paige.” Phoebe was firm. “That is your sister’s toy.” None of the older girls were too keen on the idea of taking the dog away from Pollux for any reason - it was the only thing she was really responding to at the moment.
“Buh . . .” Paige started to whine.
“Paige,” Piper stared at her little sister. “What did I tell you about behaving at the restaurant?”
Paige crossed her arms and leaned back against the seat, still not sitting. A few moments later, a grin spread across Paige’s face. She grabbed one of the crayons and held it across the table to Pollux. “Pawucks, culer?”
Pollux looked up at her sister and the crayon she offered. She then looked to Prue. “It’s okay, baby. You can take the crayon if you want it.” Prue smiled at her. Pollux thought for a moment, then reached out and took the crayon from Paige.
Paige, in her three-year-old brain, had struck an unspoken trade with Pollux. Paige practically laid on the table in an effort to get the dog from her little sister. Phoebe grabbed her quickly and pulled her into the seat. “Paige!” she scolded.
“She ga’ cwa’on”
“Alright, that’s it.” Piper looked at Prue. “Let me out of this booth.”
“Uh, Piper?” Prue questioned.
“Little Miss Paige and I are taking a trip to the restroom.”
Paige attached herself to Phoebe’s neck, hanging on for dear life. Prue stood up holding Pollux and let Piper out of the seat. Piper pulled Paige from Phoebe’s neck and the two headed off across the restaurant, Paige crying and drawing the attention of other customers all the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Piper smiled at the young woman leaving the restroom, then plopped Paige down on the sink. “Just what is your problem?”
“Doggie!” Paige screamed back.
“That is Pollux’s dog. Paige, we’ve told you that.”
“Mine!” Paige insisted.
“No! Pollux’s.”
“Mine!” Paige insisted again.
“No! That is Pollux’s.”
Paige pushed on Piper’s shoulders. “Mean!”
“Paige! You do not push or kick people! THAT is mean.”
Paige sniffled a second. “Doggie.” she was calmer.
“No.”
“Pawucks ga’ cwa’on.”
“Paige, Pollux didn’t realize you wanted to trade. She thought you were being nice.”
“Was.”
“Yes, but . . .” how did you explain this to a three-year-old? Piper looked at Paige for a second. “Alright, you want to make a deal?” Piper realized Paige was intrigued. “If you behave for the rest of the time we’re at the restaurant. We will stop and get you a stuffed toy as well.” Piper watched her little sister’s eyes look brighter. “But, you cannot have that toy until you have a timeout when we get home.”
“Ti’out?”
“Yes, timeout. For trying to take Pollux’s dog. That’s the deal, little missy. Take it or leave it.”
Paige appeared to ponder this over for a second. “Kay.”
“Alright.” Piper wet a paper towel and wiped off Paige’s face. She then picked up her little sister and carried her back to the table, where Pollux was already picking at the chicken tenders that Prue had cut up into little bits for her. Piper handed Paige back to Phoebe, who seated her little sister next to her and helped her with her spaghetti.
“Everything better?” Prue asked.
“Yes, but we have to stop on the way home and by Paige a stuffed toy . . .” Piper watched Prue’s eyebrows go up. “Which she cannot have until she has had a timeout for the way she behaved.” Prue’s eyebrow dropped and she returned to eating and helping Pollux, who wasn’t eating much. Phoebe looked across the table at Piper. “See, you can do this.” Phoebe ducked as one of Pollux’s french fries came hurtling towards her. “Hey! What kind of example are you setting here?” Phoebe once again had to duck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wait a minute, they cast a spell to help Piper and Leo and I’m the one losing my privacy?!?”
“Prue,” Phoebe began, “We’ve been over this. Piper has Leo and I have Cole. It makes the most sense they sleep with you.”
The three older sisters were standing in the kitchen ‘discussing’ sleeping arrangements. Pollux was now sitting on Phoebe’s lap at the table, shuffling around the pieces of an alphabet puzzle Phoebe had purchased earlier.
“But still . . . how are they ever going to change back if Piper doesn’t spend anytime with them? Besides, there are two of them. Neither of them can sleep in Pollux’s bed alone and they won’t both fit in mine.” Prue seated herself in a chair at the table across from Phoebe.
“I am going to spend time with them - lots of it. And Phoebe bought that playpen thing today. We could set it up beside the bed and put Paige in there.” Piper walked to the kitchen doorway and yelled toward the living room. “Paige, you can come get your kitten now.” Piper heard the sound of little feet hitting the floor and moving rapidly. “Walk, please.” The pace slowed to a quick walk. Piper handed Paige the stuffed kitten she had picked out, when she walked into the kitchen. Paige took the kitten and crawled into Prue’s lap. Paige automatically started grabbing puzzle pieces and pulling them towards her. Pollux simply sat back into Phoebe, cuddled her dog, and watched her sister.
“Okay, that is not normal. Shouldn’t she fight her back or something.” Prue commented.
“Yeah, I mean we did, didn’t we?”
“I think so. Only Grams and Mom would know.”
“We’ve got to work on this. I mean, I thought grown-up Pollux had problems.”
“Oh no.” a light bulb went off in Prue’s brain.
“What?” Piper did not like Prue’s tone.
“Grown-up Pollux has nightmares. I wonder when those started.”
“She does?” Phoebe had no idea.
“Yeah, and I don’t always know when she’s having them. She’s pretty quiet about it. She’s not a screamer or anything . . . the occasional tossing, sometimes she breaths different, or sits up suddenly.”
“Well, if we’re lucky, they didn’t start until much later.”
“Look at her Phoebe, do you honestly believe that’s the case?”
“Well we can hope, can’t we?”

Two hours later, the girls had given Pollux and Paige their baths. Phoebe had rocked Paige to sleep and Piper had taken care of Pollux. Both girls were sleeping in Prue’s room. Paige in the playpen cuddling a stuffed cat, Pollux in the bed, holding to the dog. Prue had stayed up and read a while. When she was satisfied Pollux was sleeping pretty well, she went to sleep herself.

A few hours after Prue had fallen asleep, Pollux sat up in the bed, shaking slightly. She looked at Paige sleeping in the playpen in the floor, then she turned and looked at Prue, sleeping beside her. An internal war started raging in her brain. Adult Pollux - or what was left of her at the moment - wanted nothing more than to curl up to Prue. Two-year-old Pollux feared what would happen to her if she did and saw waking Paige as the safer bet . . . but that would require moving from the bed and she knew that would make Prue angry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Prue felt something lightly pushing up against her body. She opened her eyes and saw Pollux snuggling next to her. Pollux was tying very hard not to wake Prue and she was still shaking. Prue picked Pollux up, rolled onto her back, and sat Pollux on her stomach.
“Hey there, baby. What’s wrong?” Prue whispered so not to wake Paige. Pollux just sat very still where Prue had put her and looked at Prue. While Pollux didn’t actually say anything, her eyes were speaking volumes to Prue, conveying sadness and fear. Prue ran a hand through Pollux’s hair. “You had a bad dream, didn’t you? Come on, let’s get you something to drink and see if we can go back to sleep.” Prue carried Pollux and her dog out of the room and downstairs, pausing long enough to wake Piper to tell her to go watch Paige.
Downstairs, Prue filled a sippy cup with water, handed it to Pollux, then attempted to sit Pollux on the counter. Pollux simply clung to Prue’s neck when she tried to pull back away from Pollux. Prue once again placed her little sister on the counter and attempted to stand. Pollux once again refused to relinquish her grip. “Alright,” Prue conceded. “Apparently you want to be held.”
Pollux looked at Prue a moment, then laid her head on Prue’s shoulder, one hand still holding the cup. Prue kissed Pollux’s forehead, held her close, and rocked back and forth with her a moment. Prue then walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Pollux laid with her head on Prue’s shoulder for a little while, occasionally rising to take a drink of water. She then saw the dog lying on the couch, where Prue had placed it. Pollux looked between Prue and the dog for a minute, which was not missed by Prue. “You want the dog, don’t you? You know you could just reach and get it.” Pollux just stared at her. “Or I could hand it to you.” Prue and Pollux played with the dog for a little while, when Prue noticed Pollux yawn. “Alright, we’re going to try the sleep thing again . . . see if it takes this time.”
Prue thought that maybe watching a cartoon would help Pollux. She shuffled through the DVDs Phoebe had purchased. “Let’s see we’ve got Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch . . .” Pollux’s hand shot out and hit the DVD case. “Do you want to watch this one?” Prue looked at Pollux, who refused to speak, but didn’t move her hand either. “Lilo and Stitch it is.” Prue placed Pollux on the couch and Pollux once again refused to let go of her sister, so Prue ended up carrying her to the DVD player. She put the DVD in and walked back to the couch. Stretching out on the couch, she laid Pollux on her chest. Prue placed the pacifier in Pollux’s mouth and the dog was tucked between Pollux and the couch, Prue kissed the top of Pollux’s head. “This is a one time deal, baby. We should both be in bed.” Pollux snuggled closer. “You don’t believe that either, do you?” Prue laughed to herself as Pollux became fixated on the movie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phoebe came downstairs to work on her column early the next morning and found Pollux sleeping peacefully on her big sister’s chest while Prue rested as well. Phoebe smiled at the sight, turned off the DVD player, went to the closet, pulled out a quilt, and placed it over the two of them. She then set her laptop up in the dining room.
Phoebe was so immersed in her article, she didn’t notice Piper come in carrying Paige. “Hi, Eebee,” Paige managed through a yawn.
Phoebe smiled at her little sister. “Good morning. How’s my little sister today?”
“Hungwy.”
“Good to see some things never change.” Phoebe commented and looked at Piper.
“How are you?”
“Tired. Just for the record, Pollux’s bed is more comfortable than Prue’s. Speaking of which, where are those two?”
“Living room. When did you end up in Prue and Pollux’s room?”
“Around two. Pollux had a nightmare.”
“Figured as much.” Phoebe then answered the phone that had just started ringing. “Hello. Hold on just a second.” Phoebe looked at Piper, “It’s the magazine, for Prue. I’ll be back.”
Phoebe disappeared and came back without the phone. Moments later Prue entered, a yawning Pollux on her hip. Pollux was rubbing her face sleepily, her head lying on Prue’s shoulder.
“Pawucks!” Paige reached for her sister, only to have Prue deflect her hand. “Me jus wan play.”
“I know, sweetie, but Pollux is still tired. You two can play after breakfast. Okay?”
“Kay.”
Prue looked at Piper, “So I have to go to a shoot for a few hours.”
“And I’ve got to go to the paper.”
“Looks like you’re home with the kids.”
“But . . .” Piper started to protest.
“Well, you are the one who needs to make a decision.” Prue began. “I will get Pollux dressed for you.” Prue carried Pollux out of the kitchen and towards the stairs.
“I’ll take care of Paige.” Phoebe took Paige from Piper and followed Prue. Phoebe was back downstairs first. She had Paige dressed in a pair of black pants with white stripes down the side. Paige’s top was black and white as well, with a big pink ten on the front. Phoebe had pulled Paige’s hair up and secured it with a clip on the top of her head. Phoebe handed Paige to Piper, grabbed her stuff, and headed out the door. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
Prue came downstairs carrying Pollux a few minutes later. She had Pollux dressed in little khaki cargo pants and a lilac wrap around top. Prue had placed her hair in a lilac headband, that Pollux was currently fussing with. “Okay, Paige has cute clothes. Why doesn’t Pollux?”
“Phoebe didn’t think that would make her happy. Pollux isn’t exactly the cute clothes type.”
“Pollux isn’t exactly in charge right now, is she?” Prue raised an eyebrow at Piper.
“Phoebe did buy her a couple cute outfits too.”
“Great, we’ll play dress up later?” Prue switched to baby talk as she butted foreheads with Pollux. “Won’t we . . . we’ll play dress up.” Pollux looked at Prue as if she knew what Prue was saying would lead to humiliation for her. Prue handed Pollux towards Piper. Pollux did the ‘Prue is a lifesaver’ trick.
“Okay, this is new.” Piper commented.
“Yeah, but an improvement, I think.” Prue looked at Pollux. “You have to go to Piper now. I’ll be back soon.” Prue managed to disentangle herself from Pollux. Pollux’s death grip. Pollux didn’t whine or cry, although the look on Pollux’s face made Prue wish she had. “Alright, this is hard.”
“Go. You’ll be back soon. We’ll be fine.” Piper watched Prue leave then looked at her little sisters. “How’s cereal for breakfast, guys?”

Piper quickly found out that Paige was even more of a handful at three than she thought. While she was preparing her breakfast after the girls had eaten, she had set the girls down with coloring books. Everything was going good until Piper heard “No, Pawucks. No like dat!!!”
“Paige, your sister can color however she wants.”
“Buh . . .her is no gotta put blue dere!” Paige accented her point by pulling the coloring book from Piper.
“Paige, give your sister her book back.”
“No! She culer wong!”
“Paige!”
“No. Ouh cunt makes me.”
“Paige, I won’t warn you again.”
“No!” Paige stuck her tongue out at Piper. This earned her five minutes in the timeout chair.

A little while later, Piper was doing the P3 books while Paige and Pollux were playing with some blocks in the floor. Paige had amassed quite a few blocks to Pollux’s measly few, but Pollux didn’t seem to mind. She was actually playing with the ones she had. Pollux was getting ready to stack a block on top the other when Paige interjected her big sister expertise. “No daz no it!!”
“Paige,” Piper didn’t even look up from the books.
“Like dis!” Paige took the block from Pollux and stacked it. Pollux picked up another block and tried it again. “NO!”
“Paige! Do not yell at your sister.”
Paige crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Pollux. “Pawucks big dummy!” That earned her ten minutes.

Piper then fed the girls lunch and took them into the living room. “Alright, guys. How about a movie?”
“Seepin’ lay - dee.” Paige said excitedly while Pollux simply held up the Lilo and Stitch case as she sucked on her pacifier.
“Alright, we clearly have different opinions. Tell you what, we’ll watch Lilo and Stitch first, then Sleeping Beauty.”
“Mine first!”
“Paige, Pollux is smaller than you.”
“So?”
“Well, you have to watch out for your little sister, right?”
“Buh . . .Pawucks ga da doggie!”
“And you got the kitty.”
“Buh . . .”
“Paige, we’re going to watch yours too.”
Paige stomped her foot, jerked the pacifier from Pollux’s mouth, and threw it across the room, as well as taking the dog. Twenty minutes. And so it went, all morning and all afternoon. Paige would pick on Pollux, declare Piper mean for disciplining her, and then there would be a timeout. It was a vicious cycle.

When Phoebe got home around two, Piper was in the kitchen putting Pollux a jacket on Pollux. “Hey, Piper.” She leaned over into the car seat and started cooing at Pollux. “And where are you going? Look at how cute you are, my little sister. I could just eat you up.” Phoebe looked back to Piper. “Where’s Paige?”
“Okay, we agree that they didn’t mean to turn into small children, right?”
“Yeah.”
“But since they did, we’re all going to take care of them, no matter who they were trying to help, right?”
“Right.” Phoebe was pretty sure she didn’t like where this was going.
“Eebee!” Paige squealed from the doorway. “Pi - ya mean!”
“Paige, I didn’t tell you that you could get out of that chair.”
“Ouh mean!!!!”
“Paige, go sit back down, please.”
“NO!!!” Paige stomped her foot.
“Paige,” Piper warned.
“NO!!! NO!!!! NO!!!!” Paige then proceeded to throw one gigantic temper tantrum.
Phoebe looked at Piper dumbstruck. Piper put the diaper bag on her shoulder and Pollux’s pacifier in her mouth. She then hoisted her little sister in her arms and looked at Phoebe. “Your turn. We’ll be back later.” Piper smiled and headed towards her Jeep where she had thankfully had Cole install a car seat this morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Piper leaned into the Jeep and gently lifted Pollux from her car seat. She grabbed the diaper bag, put Pollux on her hip, and walked towards the ocean. “So, what do you think, little one? You do like it as much now as you used to, right?” Apparently, Piper had guessed correctly. The closer she got to the water with Pollux, the less tense Pollux became. Piper had chosen a secluded section of beach and she took Pollux very close to where the waves roll in. She threw a blanket she kept in the Jeep on the sand and seated herself on it. Piper sat Pollux in front of her and the two just watched the waves roll by for a few minutes. Pollux was the most calm she had been since the spell. She snuggled against Piper and watched the waves roll in. “You really are in your element here, aren’t you?” Piper kissed Pollux’s head.
The sisters sat for another few minutes when Piper began talking out loud to Pollux, trying to figure her other little sister out. “So, do you have any idea what is wrong with Paige? Did she always act like that? Of course, you didn’t get to meet her until you were eight, so you wouldn’t know would you? Not that you would answer me if you did. I mean, I just didn’t picture Paige as the type to throw a temper tantrum. She was just so . . . so . . .”
“Ika” Pollux pointed towards the water.
Piper looked down at her baby sister. “What?”
Pollux remained pointing. She also looked towards the water. “Ika.”
Piper looked at Pollux in amazement. It had been over twenty-four hours since she had heard Pollux say anything. She was beginning to wonder if Pollux could talk. And now, here they were, and Pollux just decided talking was okay, which only reaffirmed Piper’s belief that any foster parent that Pollux had ever had whose name was not Matthews, deserved some sort of drastic action done to them. Piper kissed Pollux’s forehead. “I love you. You know that, right?”
Pollux once again pointed to the water. “Ika.”
“Alright, not that I’m complaining, because anything you say is fine with me. But,” Piper pointed to the water. “Wah - ter. Oh - shin.”
“Ika.” Pollux stated simply.
Piper picked up sand and let it run through her fingers “S - a - n - d”
“Gabba.”
“Okay, why does all this sound so familiar?”
Pollux picked up sand. “Gabba.”
“Why do I get the felling you can say sand and you won’t?”
“Ika.” Pollux pointed to the water. “Ika! Ika!”
“No, we are not going into the water.”
“Ika!”
“No! Pollux.” Piper was firm, but non scary.
“Ika.”
“Home.” Piper picked up Pollux, the diaper bag, and the blanket and headed back for the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phoebe had watched Piper carry Pollux out the door and stood staring at Paige for a moment. Phoebe had then walked over and picked her baby sister up and carried her into the living room. The tantrum was over quickly and soon Paige was just crying. She cried so much she made herself sick. Before Phoebe could turn around twice she was holding a little girl with the dry heaves.
“Shhh . . . shhh, baby, calm down. It’s okay. You have to breath.” Once Phoebe got that taken care of, she got Paige a sippy cup with water and the two sat on the couch while Paige drank some water. Once Phoebe thought Paige was calm enough to talk she asked the dreaded question. “Okay, Paige, what is wrong?”
“Pi - ya pu’ me on ti’out.”
“What did you do?”
“Nuffin. She juss did.”
“Paige, Piper wouldn’t put you in a timeout for no reason. You might as well spill.”
“Pawucks fawt.”
“Paige . . .”
Paige knew Phoebe wasn’t going to let her off with just that, so she quickly recounted some of the stuff. “Pawucks ca-roared boo, an it no goed dere, an den her did no pay bock rye, an Pi-ya putted in her moobie, an no mine, an now me mad!”
“Paige, Pollux is, well she’s . . .” Phoebe was at a loss, how did she explain this.
“Pi - ya wuv Pawucks. Roo wuv Pawucks.”
“What?”
“Tey wuv Pawucks.”
“Paige, they love you too.”
“Pawucks ga doggie . . . an’ moobie . . . an’ seep wif Roo.”
Phoebe stared at Paige in disbelief. It all made sense now. The older girls had been so busy trying to make sure that Pollux’s issues were dealt with, that Paige was feeling ignored and unwanted. Phoebe held Paige tight. “Oh, baby. You think they love Pollux more?”
Paige didn’t say anything, she just nodded.
“Paige, that’s not true. It’s just a lot of very, very bad people . . .”
“I’m home!” Prue’s voice rang in from the kitchen. She was soon in the living room. “Hey guys, what’s up?” Prue then noticed the look on Paige’s face. She was beside her baby sister in a flash. “Paige, sweetie, what’s wrong?”
Paige just stared at the floor. Prue looked towards Phoebe for help. Phoebe mouthed ‘take her’, which Prue did. “Paige, I can’t make it better if you don’t talk to me.”
Paige sniffled slightly. “Pawucks Roo’s abby.”
“What?”
“Pawucks Roo’s baby” Paige repeated clearer this time.
Prue looked at Phoebe in shock. For one of the very few times in Phoebe’s life, she saw her big sister at a loss for what to do. Phoebe couldn’t offer any help, she had no idea what they should do.
“Paige, you’re my baby too.”
“No.” Paige said quietly. “Jus’ Pawucks.”
“Paige, you’re both my babies. Just like Piper and Phoebe.”
“Pi - ya and Eebee no babees.”
“They’re my babies. Just like you and Pollux. I love and take care of you all.”
“But Pawucks ga’ doggie an’ Pawucks seep wif ouh an’ an’ . . .”
“Okay, I see a little talk is in order.”
“We’re home.” Piper carried Pollux into the foyer.
Phoebe hadn’t realized how long Paige had cried until she saw Piper come home. She started walking towards her big sister.
“Hey, Prue. Pollux, you want to show Prue what you can do?” Piper asked a seemingly innocent question. She then watched curiously as Paige buried her head in Prue’s shoulder.
“Later, Piper.” Prue took Pollux from her sister. “Alright, you. We are going upstairs and taking a nap.”
“But . . .” Piper began.
“You have a problem.” Phoebe supplied. “Right now, Paige really needs you and Prue.”
“Well then, let’s all talk . . .”
“No. Just you and Prue.” Phoebe bounced Pollux on her hip and took the pacifier Piper was holding. “Come on, I bet you’re tired. Let’s go up to Phoebe’s room and sleep.” Phoebe headed upstairs with Pollux, leaving Piper standing dumbfounded staring at Paige and Prue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, would someone please tell me what’s going on here?” Piper looked to her sisters.
“Apparently, we’ve been neglecting Paige.” Prue kissed Paige’s forehead as she sat on the couch with her.
“What?”
“Pi - ya wuv Pawucks.”
“Yes, I do.” Piper admitted. “And I also love you.”
“No.” Paige looked at her sister sadly.
“Yes, I do. Paige, why would you think I didn’t?”
“Pi - ya weave. Pawucks wif Piper.”
Prue eyed Piper suspiciously. “Just when did you leave?”
Piper stared at Prue wide - eyed. “Well they were . . . then they . . . and the . . . a timeout . . . then Phoebe . . .” Piper fell into a chair and put her head in her hands. “I’m going to be a horrible parent. What’s worse, I’m a horrible sister right now.” Piper looked at Paige, “Paige, I am sooo sorry. I should not have left at all, let alone when I did. It’s not your fault, sweetheart. It’s mine.”
“And I’m sorry I had to leave this morning, baby. I had to go to work.”
Piper moved closer to Prue and Paige. “Sweetheart, I don’t love Pollux more than you. I could NEVER love anybody more than you.”
“Pi - ya weave.” Paige repeated again.
Piper pulled Paige off Prue’s lap and placed her on her own. Piper hugged Paige tightly and kissed her cheek. Piper then placed her forehead against Paige’s forehead. “I love you, Paige. I loved you the first moment I saw you and I’ll love you as long as I live. You will ALWAYS be my baby sister, and you will always be loved, Paige Halliwell.” Piper noticed Paige looking at her strangely. “That’s right I said Halliwell. Just like Prue, just like Phoebe, just like me. You’re stuck with us no matter what.”
“Pwa - mis?”
“With all my heart.”
Paige then turned and looked expectantly at Prue. Prue smiled at her little sister, “My turn, huh?” Prue waited for Paige’s nod, then took her back from Piper. Prue sat Paige on her lap so that she was looking at her. “Paige, I am very, very sorry I was giving Pollux more attention than you. That was very wrong of me and I will not do it again. Please forgive me.”
“Roo wuv?”
“Roo wuv very, very, very much.”
“How much?”
“All the way to the moon and back.”
Paige’s eyes grew wide. “Dat far!?!?!”
“Farther.” Prue assured her. She then started tickling her little sister, which made Paige begin to giggle uncontrollably. Prue then laid Paige on the couch between her and Piper and Piper joined in on the game. After a few moments of Paige’s uncontrollable laughter, Prue and Piper ceased their tickling and Piper once again took Paige to her lap. Piper rocked side to side for a moment, Paige snuggled into her, all the while staring at Prue. Paige then caught both Prue and Piper completely off guard with her next statement. “Pawucks sad?”
Prue exhaled deeply. This was not an easy question. Prue had no idea what information Paige had retained from her normal adult state. All she was sure of at the moment, was the Paige was being ruled by a three-year-olds emotions. “Yes baby, Pollux is sad.”
“Why?”
Piper looked at Prue, neither were sure exactly what to say. Prue then looked straight into Paige’s eyes. “Because some very, very bad people hurt Pollux for a very long time.”
“Buh . . . Pawucks wif Roo now.”
“Yes, but do you remember how you felt a little while ago when Piper and I weren’t paying attention to you.” Prue saw Paige think for a moment, then nod. “Well, that is how Pollux has felt her WHOLE life.” Prue made sure to make the word whole sound really important. “That’s not easy to forget.”
Paige looked up at Piper. “Pi - ya ficks?”
“Prue and I will try . . . and Phoebe.”
“Kay.” Paige seemed pleased with this. She turned back to Prue, “Pawucks wan’ Roo.”
“What baby?”
“Pawucks wan’ Roo.”
“Well, Pollux is with Phoebe right now and I’m with you. I’ll go see Pollux in a little while.”
“Buh . . . Pawucks wan’ Roo.” It seemed that once Paige was confident that she was loved by Prue and Piper, she returned to being concerned about Pollux as well.
“Tell you what. We’ll all go see Pollux and Phoebe. Then tonight we’ll go out for dinner and when we get back, we’ll do anything you want. And then tomorrow, little missy, you and I will go somewhere, just the two of us. Sound good?”
Paige enthusiastically nodded her head. The sisters then rose from the couch and headed upstairs with Piper carrying Paige.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Pollux . . . Pollux, look at this, look at the teddy bear . . . okay, you don’t like that either.” Phoebe let her hands fall to her sides. She had been through almost every toy that was upstairs and Pollux wasn’t responding to any of them. Pollux was simply lying back on the pillows of Phoebe’s bed, clutching her dog and sucking on the pacifier, looking extremely not happy.
“Oh, I know. You want to play with the dog, don’t you? Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Oh, I’m gonna get the dog . . . I’m gonna get the dog.” Phoebe grabbed the dog from Pollux’s hand. This caused Pollux’s look to change, but not the way Phoebe had expected. Instead of Pollux looking like she was going to play with Phoebe, Pollux looked like she could cry. Phoebe immediately replaced the dog. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s your dog. I’m not going to take it.”
“Problems, Pheebs?” Prue’s voice drifted in from the doorway.
Phoebe and Pollux both turned towards the sound. Phoebe shrugged her shoulders in frustration, then looked back at Pollux. Pollux’s look had lightened a little and she had her arms extended towards Prue. Prue smiled, walked over and picked Pollux up. Pollux yawned and laid her head on Prue’s shoulder, seemingly content.
“Well, don’t I just feel like chopped liver.” Phoebe looked at Pollux.
“It’s okay, Phoebe. We still love you.” Piper smiled at her sister.
“Yeah well, just for that, she can forget that surfboard I owe her.”
“Oh, surfboard!” Piper exclaimed. With trying to fix Paige’s problem, she had forgotten what Pollux had done earlier that day. “Watch this. Pollux, where did we go today?”
Pollux just stared back at Piper. So Piper tried again. “Pollux, what did we see?” Again nothing.
Prue looked at Piper. “Uh, Piper. Pollux doesn’t . . .”
“Wait.” Piper commanded then looked back at Pollux. “Pollux . . . Wah - ter. Oh - shin. S - a - n - d.”
“Piper, she doesn’t . . .”
“Ika.”
Prue and Phoebe stared at their little sister. Prue looked into Pollux’s face. “What, baby?”
“Ika.”
Prue gave Pollux’s cheek a big kiss. “I have no idea what you just said, but I am sooo glad you said it!”
Phoebe took Pollux and whirled her around once, then immediately gave her back to Prue. She then leaned in towards Pollux, “You are sooo smart, yes you are. Pollux is so smart.”
“Eebee?”
“Yes, Paige?” Phoebe turned to her other little sister.
“Pawucks tanks ouh cwazy.”
Prue and Piper both burst out laughing. Phoebe grabbed Paige, put her on the bed, and started tickling her unmercifully. Prue kept a hold of Pollux as she laughed at the sight. Piper joined in the tickle fest and for the second time in less than half an hour, Paige was perfectly content with all her sisters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, in the Source’s cave in the Underworld, the Seer came out of her latest vision.
“Well? What did you see?” the Source demanded.
“I saw your demise.”
“My demise? That cannot be.”
“You know how powerful my visions are. More so even than the Oracle’s were and more accurate.”
“You mean to tell me with all the powers at my disposal, all I’ve learned about them, even with the youngest ones rendered temporarily powerless, in the end I still lose? How is that possible?
“The Charmed Ones’ powers will simply be greater than yours. I mean no disrespect. I only speak of what I see.”
“If I don’t prevail, what difference does it make?”
“There must be another way.”
“No! With the Hollow, I will render ALL the witches powerless. Then I will destroy them. Even if it means destroying us all.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paige was dancing around the kitchen happily in her little yellow sundress, while Piper was giving Phoebe some last minute details. “Okay, I will be at the club until one. If you need anything, anything at all . . .”
“Piper, you’re only going to be gone four hours. I think I can handle my baby sister for four hours.”
“The dog,” Piper began, ignoring Phoebe, “make sure the dog is always close by. And she’ll probably take a nap around eleven-thirty. After that you should probably give her lunch . . . oh, and watch her - make sure she eats. It’s there for her to eat, not pick at.”
“And you don’t think you can handle kids.” Phoebe mumbled to herself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Continue.”
“I’ll have my cell all day. If ANYTHING at all goes wrong, call me. I’ll get back here as soon as I can.”
“Piper! Piper! Will you please trust me? It’s not like I’m going to let her put her fingers in the wall socket.”
“True, but Phoebe, Pollux is . . .”
“Complex . . . wounded . . . scared . . . I know, Piper. I know. And your lack of faith in me is starting to upset me here.”
“Phoebe, it’s not that I doubt you, it’s just . . . it’s just . . .”
Phoebe moved her head forward with expectancy. “It’s just what, Piper?”
“And here we are!” Prue came into the kitchen. Pollux, in a little pair of jeans and a t-shirt, on her hip. Prue bounced her up and down a couple of times. “Are we ready to go to Phoebe? Are we ready? Yes we are.” Prue extended Pollux towards Phoebe, who took her instantly.
Paige then saw her opportunity. “ROO!!!!” she squealed and jumped into Prue’s arms. “Wa we do ta - day?”
“It’s a surprise.” Prue kissed her little sister. “Alright, Phoebe, Piper and Pollux worked on the potty training yesterday. And last night thanks to her advance in talking, we worked on it more. The word she’s using is naga.”
“Where is she getting these words?”
“No clue.”
“They do sound awfully familiar for some reason,” Piper mulled the thought over.
“Maka.” Pollux chirped from Phoebe’s arms.
Phoebe looked at Prue, “Do we know what that is?”
“Yes.” Prue extended the pacifier towards Pollux. Pollux took it quickly.
“Takka” Pollux smiled at Prue then stuck the pacifier in her mouth.
“And I’m pretty sure that means thanks. Though I can’t get a confirmation on that because she’s being stubborn.”
“She is your sister.” Phoebe smiled as Prue glared at her. “Right so maka is pacifier, naga is potty, and takka is thanks. Anything else?”
“From what I can tell, ika is ocean and gabba is sand.” Piper contributed.
“And that would come in handy because . . .”
“It really, really calms her. You may need to throw her in the car and take her there. It was weird yesterday. The closer we got to the water, the calmer she got.”
“Right. She needs calmed, we jump in the car and head to the ocean. I can handle that.”
“Yeah, but keep an eye on her because she’ll try and . . .”
“Piper! Enough already. I can handle it!”
Piper threw up her hands. “Alright, alright.” Piper leaned over and kissed Pollux on the cheek, then looked at Prue and Paige. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the car.
Phoebe and Pollux watched the other girls head out the door. Then Phoebe turned to Pollux and smiled. “You think she’s figured out she wants kids yet?” Pollux kept sucking the pacifier. “Right, if she had, you would be back to normal. Give her time, it’ll be okay. She’ll figure it out and you and Paige will be back to normal soon.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phoebe had taken excellent care of her baby sister all morning. They played with some blocks, the dog, the see and say, and a sit and spin. Pollux had not been especially happy about the sit and spin, but she had endured it. Phoebe had then taken Pollux to her room and they had laid down for a nap. Pollux had been sleeping for about twenty minutes when Phoebe heard a change in her breathing. Phoebe raised up on her elbow and looked over at Pollux. Pollux was curled up tightly in a ball, shaking, with her eyes shut tightly. Phoebe looked at her little sister and her heart nearly broke. She reached out to comfort her and the minute her hand touched Pollux, Phoebe’s eyes squeezed shut, her breath caught, and her entire body tensed as she found herself caught in the throes of a premonition.
Phoebe’s premonition woke Pollux, and she rolled over and looked at her big sister. After the nightmare, Phoebe’s premonition only scared her more and she got tenser. Phoebe locked eyes with her little sister and they stared at each other intently for a minute. Phoebe then spoke softly to Pollux. “Oh, baby, I am sooo sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Phoebe held open her arms. “Come on, baby. It’s alright. I wouldn’t hurt you for anything in the world. NEVER! Never.”
Pollux looked at Phoebe suspiciously for a moment, but then their eyes met again and Pollux knew that Phoebe would never hurt her. Pollux crawled into Phoebe’s arms, laid her head down on Phoebe’s shoulder, and silently let years of unshed tears flow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Gay - ta Game!!! Gay - ta Game!!!” Paige yelled enthusiastically as she pulled Prue through the noisy, crowded Chucky Cheese.
“Wait, Paige. We have to get more tokens. Why don’t we watch the show and eat some pizza, then we’ll play the Gator Game.”
“Kay! Pee - za! Pee - za!!” Paige’s mind switched gears.
Prue led her little sister to a table and ordered a pepperoni pizza. Prue watched Paige stare intently at the singing characters as she waited on the order.
“So Paige, are you having fun?” Prue questioned her little sister.
Paige smiled at Prue and nodded her head enthusiastically. “Uh - huh.”
“Want to know a secret?” Prue watched Paige nod enthusiastically. “After we leave here, we’re going to the toy store and you can pick out a new toy.” Prue smiled as Paige’s eyes got big. “Just one okay?”
Again Paige nodded. She and Prue had a great rest of the day. By the time they were in line paying for Paige’s new Magnadoodle, Paige was falling asleep on Prue’s shoulder and Prue was pretty sure they had solved their problems from yesterday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Phoebe! Phoebe, I’m home!” Piper’s voice cut through the manor. Piper got a little worried when there was no answer. She dropped her things and started a search of the house. She found Phoebe in the upstairs bathroom giving Pollux a bath.
“Phoebe?” Piper questioned quietly.
“She loves the bath. The water calms her.”
Piper notice Pollux’s face. “Phoebe, are those tear stains.”
“Yeah, they are.”
“Phoebe, Pollux doesn’t . . .”
“She had a nightmare. When I put her down for her nap, she had a nightmare.”
“But Prue said that the other night she didn’t . . .” Piper got her first real look at Phoebe. “Phoebe, honey” Piper knelt next to her sister. “Phoebe, what’s wrong?”
“I was going to comfort her and when I touched her. I, uh, . . . I got a premonition.”
“Phoebe, what did you see?”
“Pollux. Pollux’s nightmare, to be exact.” Phoebe looked intently at Piper. “Oh God! Piper it was horrible!”
Piper was more than scared now. “What Phoebe? What was horrible?”
“Piper, I saw Pollux being abused. I saw what those horrible people did to her.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Prue walked into the foyer carrying a sleeping Paige, she found Piper sitting on the steps with her head in her hands.
“Piper?”
Piper looked up at Prue, worry coloring her face.
“Piper, what’s wrong?”
“Uh . . . Phoebe had a premonition.”
“Oh God! What’s going to happen?” Prue shifted Paige in her arms
“No, it’s not like that. Phoebe saw the past . . . or the future, sort of . . . it’s all very complicated.”
“Roo?” Paige was beginning to wake up.
“Shhh . . . shhh, baby. It’s okay.” Prue started swaying, trying to get Paige back to sleep. “Piper, explain please.”
“Pollux had a nightmare this afternoon. When Phoebe went to comfort her, she got a premonition. She saw Pollux’s nightmare.”
“What did she see?”
“I don’t have the details, yet. I was waiting on you. What I can tell you is that Phoebe is not letting Pollux out of her sight.”
Paige raised her head up and yawned. “Tirs - tee, Roo”
“Alright, baby. Let’s get you some juice, then we’re gonna go upstairs to Phoebe and Pollux.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five minutes later, Prue entered Phoebe’s room followed by Piper who was carrying Paige. Paige was drinking from a sippy cup she had in her hand. Phoebe was sitting on her bed facing Pollux. Pollux was leaned up against the pillows on Phoebe’s bed. They were playing with Pollux’s dog.
“Phoebe, we need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk. What’s more, now I know why Pollux doesn’t either.”
“Phoebe, we have to talk. This doesn’t only help us now. This will help us when they’re big again. You know things that Pollux will not open up and tell us. You know why she acts the way she does . . . at least the first couple of years of it.”
“No. I know more than that. Apparently her brain still has a lot of grown-up Pollux’s memories. Those memories must be buried in her subconscious and she must be able to unlock it when she’s sleeping.”
Prue gasped and Piper placed her head in Paige’s neck for a second, then looked back at Phoebe. Prue spoke first. “Phoebe, we have to know.”
“Prue,” Piper looked at her big sister. “I don’t think ALL” Piper indicated Paige “of us need to hear this.”
“Piper’s right. Paige and Pollux need to be watched over by someone while she and I hear this. Piper call Leo.”
“I’m not letting her out of my sight.”
“Phoebe, we’re talking about Leo - not a serial killer.”
“No. I understand her now. Besides the majority of her abuse seemed to come from foster fathers.”
“Well, Phoebe, she has obviously gotten over that. Remember Damon?”
“Grown-up Pollux has. We don’t know about little Pollux.”
“So Cole’s out too?”
“Uh, yeah. Besides, I don’t feel like talking about this.”
“Phoebe, we have to know. This will help us all. You saw things that Paige may not even know about. We need to know. We all take care of Pollux.”
“Well, then we’ll have to wait until they go to bed.”
“No. I have another idea. We’ll be back in five minutes.” Prue grabbed Piper’s hand and took her out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, why are we in the attic?” Piper watched Prue light candles in a circle.
“You’ll see. Just stand over there and keep Paige quiet, no matter what. Paige, you can’t tell anybody about what’s about to happen. Okay, sweetie?” Prue watched Paige nod. Prue then waited until Piper and Paige were standing in a darkened corner behind the circle of candles. She then started her chant.
“Hear these words
Hear my cry, Spirit from the other side,
Come to me, I summon thee
Cross now the Great Divide”
White lights formed in the circle of candles. When they disappeared, Patty Halliwell was standing in the circle. “Prue? What’s wrong, sweetie?”
“Well, you’re little half - whitelighter daughters cast a spell.”
“Are they okay?”
“You tell me.” Prue pointed towards Piper. Piper stepped out of the shadows with Paige as Patty turned around.
Patty covered her mouth with her hand and stared at the two a minute. “Is that . . .” Patty watched as Piper nodded. She stepped out of the circle, becoming corporeal and opened her arms to Paige. “Oh, my little Paige, come here . . .”
Nobody had to tell Paige who this was. “Mommy!” Paige extended her arms as well. Piper set her little sister on the floor. Paige ran and launched herself into Patty’s arms. Patty held her close, tears of joy running down her face.
“Oh, my sweet baby. The last time I held you like this . . .” Patty trailed off. Prue and Piper let their mother have a moment with their little sister. Eventually Patty faced her other daughters. “Is Pollux . . .?”
“Yeah. That’s kind of why we called you.”
“Pawucks sad.” Paige contributed. This caused Patty to look at her two daughters.
“You know that Pollux was abused by her foster families, right?”
Patty lowered her head. “Sam and I never . . .”
“Mom, we know it wasn’t your fault. They know it wasn’t your fault. Pollux doesn’t blame anyone. The problem is, that when they cast the spell, she went back to her two-year-old mindset. She only opens up to us a little at a time. Today, she was having a nightmare and Phoebe had a premonition and saw it. Pollux remembers all the abuse . . .at least, Phoebe was able to see her being abused later in life too.”
“And we need Phoebe to tell us what she saw. Not just for now, but for later, when they’re big again.” Piper added. “And we didn’t think they should hear us talking about it.”
“Phoebe won’t leave them in Leo or Cole’s care. And she’s not letting Pollux out of her sight. I thought that she would let you take care of them, while we talked. I also thought you may enjoy that, since you missed it the first time around.”
“I would love to.” Patty smiled widely.
“Well, then, let’s go get Pollux. I have to warn you, she may not take to you like Paige did.”
“Thanks for the warning.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phoebe was making silly faces and cooing at Pollux when the girls came back in with Patty.
“Hello, Phoebe.”
Phoebe turned at the sound of her mother’s voice, her face lighting up at the sight of Patty holding Paige.
Patty looked at Paige. “Sweetie, can you go to your big sister a minute? I’ll pick you right back up.” Patty waited until Paige nodded, then handed her to Phoebe. Patty then turned to Pollux, who was still lying on the bed. “Hello, my sweet little baby. You want to come to Mommy?”
Everyone in the room held their breath. Pollux thought a moment, grabbed her dog, then held her arms up to Patty. Patty reached out and lifted Pollux. She hugged her as tightly as she had Paige, the tears once again falling. Patty then situated Pollux on a hip. She held her opposite arm out to Paige, who climbed onto her mother’s other hip. Patty kissed each girl’s temple, then headed towards the door. “Come on darlings. We’re going to play in the living room while your sisters have a little discussion.”
Piper ran a hand through Pollux’s hair as Patty walked past her out the door. Once Patty was gone, Prue turned to Phoebe. “So, are you ready to talk now?”
“Prue, this is horrible. It shouldn’t be talked about . . . let alone have ever happened.”
“Honey, we need to know.”
“I can’t, Prue. I just can’t.”
Prue walked over to Phoebe, sat next to her, and hugged her tightly. She then pulled back, grabbed Phoebe’s chin, and made Phoebe look at her. “I know this is hard Phoebe. This is going to be hard for Piper and I to hear. I can only imagine what it would be like to see it in any way, shape, or form. But Phoebe, we all look after Pollux - not just now, but when she’s normal too. Phoebe, we all need to know. We all need to understand this part of her. It will help our bond as sisters.”
Piper stepped forward and knelt in front of her sisters. “Phoebe, sweetie, Pollux can’t tell us. Not now, not when she’s big. Whether she’s buried it or it’s just her way of dealing with it, she can’t tell us. All we know is she was abused and Paige has let a few things slip before. But you . . . you now at least know some incidents. This is actually a good thing, it will help us all. Come on, Phoebe. Don’t carry this burden alone.”
“A gift!” Phoebe scoffed. “This is a gift! Which part is a gift, Piper? The visions of her being shaken as an infant? Could it be the vision of her being burned? Oooo, I know. It’s the vision of her being tied down and whipped. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s the one!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prue hugged Phoebe tightly. “Phoebe, honey, I know this is going to be hard. But, please . . . please, you have to tell us.
Phoebe inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I got it all in flashes. There was a flash of Pollux, she couldn’t have been more than ten months old, and somebody was shaking her . . . they shook her so hard, it’s a wonder that didn’t kill her. I also saw some open palmed slaps to the face and some punches to her abdomen and throat . . . there were lots of those, she was different ages in all those flashes.”
“Phoebe,” Piper took Phoebe’s hand and brushed back a stray hair. “Sweetie, you said burned.”
“Phoebe closed her eyes and lowered her head. “She was about five,” Phoebe said through tears. “Her, uh . . . I guess it was her foster mother . . . she . . . she took a curling iron and placed it under Pollux’s arm and forced her arm down and held it . . .” Phoebe frantically looked into her big sister’s eyes. “God, Prue, she held it there so long. I don’t know how Pollux didn’t, uh . . . didn’t pass out from the pain.”
Prue kissed Phoebe’s forehead and pulled Phoebe into her embrace. “What else, baby?”
A sob escaped Phoebe. “Please, Prue . . . no more.”
Prue looked at her solemnly. “Phoebe, you said tied down and whipped . . . we need to know.”
“No, Prue. Not that . . . don’t make me . . .” Phoebe was almost hysterical now.
“Shhh . . . shhh, it’s alright. Piper and I are here. It will be okay. Just tell us.”
Phoebe sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye with the back of her hand. “She was about seven, uh . . . he . . .he . . . he tied Pollux’s arms, spread - out to the headboard, and he tied her feet together and then secured them to the footboard.” Phoebe was finding harder to talk, the further she went along. “He, uh . . . he tied her face down, and he took an extension cord . . . or a belt . . .”
“You’re not sure which?” Piper questioned quietly.
“I had this flash more than once. When, uh, when it was a belt . . . he used . . . he used the buckle end. He just kept hitting . . . and hitting . . . and hitting her, until she finally passed out.”
“Oh, Phoebe.”
“Then he . . . he, untied her from the bed . . . and he, he tied her, uh, hands behind her back and threw her . . . threw her in a dark closet and left her there.”
The tears were now streaming down Piper and Prue’s face as well. Prue exhaled. “I thought those scars were newer than that.”
“Well, I also had the same flashes, same guy, Pollux was older, maybe fifteen or sixteen.”
“That would have been when the Matthews died. What kind of a system gives a child back to that sort of person?”
“Phoebe,” Prue coaxed. “Was there anything else?”
“I’m saw her get thrown across a room . . . and I’m pretty sure she’s had food withheld from her more than once.”
“Phoebe, did you,” Prue was finding the question difficult to ask, “Did you ever see . . . did anybody ever . . . was there any . . .” Prue closed her eyes and made the words form. “ . . . sexual . . .”
“No!” Phoebe cut her off quickly. “Thank God, no!”
“Prue, is it possible that Phoebe just didn’t . . .”
“Hopefully, no. If we’re lucky, she’s been spared that trauma.”
“Prue, it was horrible. They treated her horribly. It’s a wonder we don’t have to lock her in a padded room! I have no idea how she’s gotten passed any of this . . . if it were me, I’m not sure . . .” The days events became too much for Phoebe, she began sobbing uncontrollably. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair! Why could I see it if I’m never going to get the chance to stop it?!?!?”
“Shhh . . . shhh, you weren’t supposed to stop it. It’s supposed to help us now.” Prue cradled Phoebe and rocked her back and forth. Piper hugged her sister from behind and helped Prue try and console her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour and a half later, Prue made it downstairs into the living room. Patty was playing with her two daughters. Pollux was seated on her mother’s lap, watching her big sister shuffle around puzzle pieces. Every once in a while, Pollux would reach for a piece as well. Patty looked up and saw Prue walk into the room looking as if she had just ran a decathalon.
“Prue?”
“Can I please just hold her.”
Patty held Pollux up to Prue and Prue took her as if she may break if handled roughly. Prue kissed her little sister’s cheek and hugged her tightly to her. Patty picked up Paige and watched her daughter embrace her baby sister as tears fell down her face. Patty held back her own tears. “Phoebe saw a lot.”
Prue simply nodded her head as she continued to cradle Pollux. “How did she . . .”
“Your sister is a survivor, like you.”
“Did you . . .”
“I always watched her. I just couldn’t do anything about it. The best I could do was be with her when it was over.”
Prue pulled her head back and looked at Pollux. “I’m soooo sorry, baby. So very sorry. I promise you that nobody will ever hurt you again.”
Pollux placed her head on Prue’s shoulder, Patty smiled at her two daughters. “She trusts you with her life, you know.”
“I hope so. Of course that is a little hard to believe.”
“Because she couldn’t tell you about her past?” Patty watched Prue nod. Patty then reached out and touched Prue’s cheek. “Sweetie, she couldn’t tell anybody. Not even Paige knows it all. But rest assured she does love and trust you. She loves and trusts you all.”
“How can you be so sure?” Prue kissed Pollux’s cheek.
“She came back to you, didn’t she?”
“From world travel?” Prue was a little confused.
“That too.”
Prue thought for a moment. “The coma?”
“She fought so very hard. All she could think about was getting back to you.”
“You were there?” Prue realized.
Patty smiled. “Yes. And just so you know . . . she could have chose Damon. She almost did.” She then kissed her daughter on the cheek. “I have to go back now. But if you need a babysitter again, before they are back to normal . . . you know where I am.” Patty then kissed Paige. “Be good for your sisters.”
“I will Mommy.”
Patty sat Paige on the couch. “You’ll try.” Patty brushed Paige’s nose with her finger, then turned to Pollux. “And you, you let your big sisters what they do best.” Patty then leaned over and whispered in Pollux’s ear. Finally she kissed Prue again. “I’m going to go say goodbye to Piper and Phoebe.”
“What did you say to Pollux?”
“She knows . . . and she’ll handle it when she’s back to normal.” Patty walked up the stairs, leaving Prue staring at Pollux.
“I don’t guess you’re going to tell me either.”
Pollux actually gave Prue a little smile. Prue smiled back and picked Paige up as well. “Come on you two. Your sisters need some serious cuddle time with you both.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arturo looked up at the Source as he knelt in front of him. “Yes, my liege.”
“I have a job for you. One that you will be rewarded greatly for. If you succeed, I will give you additional powers.”
“Are you sure this is wise?” The Seer whispered to the Source.
“What could be better? Once I send this darklighter to kill the younger ones, the older ones will be so grief stricken, they’ll have no means to defend themselves when I show up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Good morning, Mrs. Wyatt.” Leo playfully nuzzled his wife’s neck as she returned to their bedroom, wearing nothing but her robe.
“I thought I kept my maiden name,” she smiled as she turned to face him. He pressed his lips to hers. “Why, Mr. Wyatt! Are you trying to seduce me?”
“Am I that obvious?” Leo smirked back and kissed Piper again, longer this time.
Piper shut the door while they were caught in the kiss, putting her hand back on Leo’s shoulders when she heard the ‘click’. Leo broke the kiss, picked up his wife, and carried her back to their bed. He laid her down gently and followed her onto the bed, kissing her neck passionately. She threw her head back to expose more of her neck. “Rather aggressive for a pacifist, aren’t you, honey?”
Leo stopped kissing her and looked into his wife’s eyes. “It’s not like I’m going to hurt you.” He then returned to his earlier task.

“Roo! Me wan’ to go down an’ pay wif me Maggadoo-el.”
“Paige, calm down! We will go downstairs as soon as I figure out what Pollux is going to wear.” Prue assured her as she held up a little pink short sleeved dress with daisies on it and a matching white sweater.
“Pawucks no like dat!!”
“Ag - ba!!!” Pollux seemed to confirm her big sister’s statement.
“Well, that’s too bad. Today, I’m taking pictures of you two and you’re both going to look cute.” Prue continued searching through outfits. Paige saw her chance while Prue was intent on finding the right outfit. She quietly climbed off the bed and headed towards the door.
“Oju!!” Pollux exclaimed.
“What, baby?” Prue questioned. You’re going to have to start using real words soon, you know that?” Prue didn’t even look away from the clothes.
Pollux stared at Paige, who had her finger pressed tightly against her lips to shush her baby sister. Pollux smiled at her and Paige continued into the hall. Paige was headed towards the steps when she heard strange noises coming from her sister’s room. Paige decided to investigate, so she walked over and pushed on the slightly ajar door to Piper’s room.

Piper and Leo had just had the perfect morning. Piper was fiercely digging her nails into Leo’s back. Both were exhausted, hot, and sweaty. It was going to be perfect - both of them were almost to the point of . . .
“Pi - ya!”
Piper and Leo froze, both of them had the ‘deer in the headlights’ look plastered on their faces. Piper recovered first and awkwardly starting grabbing for the sheets, that were all over the bed. Leo soon followed suit and was also desperately grabbing for sheets. As soon as Piper disentangled herself from Leo and had a sheet wrapped around her, she turned to Paige.
“PAIGE ASHLEY HALLIWELL!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING BARGING INTO MY ROOM WITHOUT KNOCKING?!?!?” Piper’s embarrassment was ruling her anger.
“Buh . . . I’ was open.”
“It most certainly was not!”
“Piper . . .” Leo was trying to calm his wife.
“Piper!” Prue had heard the yelling and she came running in carrying Pollux. “What’s all the . . . Oh! Oh! Oh!” Prue caught sight of her little sister wrapped in a sheet and her brother-in-law trying to accomplish the same outfit. She immediately turned her back to the couple and shielded Pollux’s eyes. She then awkwardly reached behind her, trying to get a hold of Paige to pull her out of the room.
“How did she get away from you?!?!?” Piper demanded.
“Piper, she’s three. That’s what she does best.” Prue finally got a hand on Paige and pulled her little sister from the room, leaving Piper and Leo to wallow in their embarrassment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Phoebe, it is not that funny!” Prue insisted as she was messing with her camera.
Phoebe was laughing so hard she had nearly fallen off the back steps. Prue had just got finished relaying the story of Piper’s problem to Phoebe, who had been awakened by the screaming. Paige and Pollux were playing in the backyard - Paige was on the Sit and Spin, while Pollux was kicking a ball around.
“Oh, yes. Yes it is.” Phoebe was forced to set her coffee cup down before she spilled it’s contents. “Just where exactly . . .”
“I’m not sure.” Prue joined in the laughing, “But both of them were wrapped in sheets when I got there.” Prue lost it now. She and Phoebe both were in hysterics when they heard the back door open.
“Morning.” Piper mumbled.
Prue immediately ceased the laughter. “Good morning, Piper.”
“So,” Phoebe began, “How was the toga party?” Her statement caused Prue and herself to bust into another fit of laughter.
“If it had been you, you wouldn’t think it was funny.”
“True. But it was you . . . so it is!”
“Hmph!” Piper sat down next to her sisters. “Can we just drop it, please?”
“Sure, honey.” Prue smiled at her. “Just out of curiosity though, what are your feelings on having kids now?”
Piper smacked Prue’s leg. “Let’s just say, they should be back to normal!”
“Nah, you’re talking out of anger.” Phoebe supplied.
Prue watched as Paige got off the Sit and Spin and went over to Pollux and took the ball. “Alright, that’s enough of . . .” before Prue could reprimand Paige, Pollux took her ball back. “What the . . .”
Paige looked as surprised as Prue. She had not expected this reaction from Pollux, so she simply tried again. Pollux, once again, took her ball back.
“I guess we did something right.” Phoebe commented.
“Or she’s really pissed about that outfit.” Piper commented on the little white sundress Prue had placed their sister in. The dress had little red cherries, spaghetti strap sleeves, and a red ribbon on the stomach that tied in the back. Prue had completed the outfit with white tights and shiny red Mary Jane shoes. She had placed Pollux’s hair back in a red ribbon head band.
“Yeah, well, I’m taking pictures. That’s why they are both dressed in their cute outfits.”
“That’s great, Prue. But you’re going to get some of her in her other stuff too, right? I mean she does look most natural in those clothes.”
“Of course I will. I just couldn’t pass up this chance. Now if you two will excuse me, I have subjects to photograph.” Prue rose from the steps, went over to her little sisters, and started posing them all over the backyard. Phoebe and Piper watched for a long time as Prue photographed the girls together. Then they remembered how easily Prue got wrapped up in her photography and went back into the house.
After countless rolls of film, Prue decided it was time to get separate shots. Pollux was fussing with her outfit something awful. Prue picked up her baby sister. “Alright, baby, I’ll make you a deal. You sit on the steps while I take some pictures of your sister. Then, I will take you picture. After that, we will change you into some clothes you like better and we will take some shots in those.”
“Poju!”
“I’m taking that as a yes.” Prue placed Pollux on the back steps and started posing Paige. She was so wrapped up in her photography, she didn’t notice Arturo shimmer in behind her.
Arturo smiled an evil smile at Pollux, raised his darklighter crossbow, and aimed at Pollux.
“ROO!!!!!!!”

Piper’s head shot up from her place at the counter. She looked at Phoebe who was reading the morning paper. “Was that Pollux?” Phoebe questioned.
Piper didn’t even give an answer. She just ran towards the backyard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Piper and Phoebe reached the backyard just in time to see Prue knock Arturo’s crossbow from his hand through telekinesis. Piper charged into the backyard to help Prue and Phoebe picked up Pollux and cradled her close. Piper took a defensive stance in the backyard and prepared to blow Arturo up.
“Piper, wait.” Prue stated as she ran towards Paige.
Piper looked at her sister curiously, and instead froze Arturo. “Why am I not blowing him up?”
“He was aiming for Pollux. Somebody is after Pollux. I would like to know who.”
Phoebe joined her two older sisters on the lawn. “He may have been after both of them . . . it may be known that they aren’t themselves lately.”
Piper eyed the demon then waved her hand and unfroze his head. Arturo stared at her. “Witch.”
“Very good. And you’re a darklighter.” Piper scoffed.
“Who sent you?” Prue demanded
Arturo just stared at the sisters.
“Piper . . .” Phoebe encouraged. Piper shot her hands forward and blew off Arturo’s right arm at the shoulder. Arturo screamed in pain.
“It doesn’t have to be like this.” Piper commented. “Who sent you?” She watched as Arturo stood stoically. She raised her hands, prepared to destroy another body part. Before she could do him any more damage, an energy ball came flying across the backyard. It missed all five sisters, but hit Arturo squarely in the chest. Arturo’s body was engulfed in flames for one agonizing moment, then he was gone. The only thing left of Arturo’s existence was the crossbow that Prue had knocked from his hand earlier.
All the girls looked to where the energy ball had come from. A large demon in a cloak was standing across the yard. He smiled at them and shimmered out.
“Damn it!” Prue commented and looked towards Phoebe. “How is she?”
Phoebe shifted Pollux’s weight slightly in her arms. “Shaking.”
Prue bounced Paige up and down a second, “How ‘bout you?” she questioned the tiny girl.
“Pi - ya.” Paige said pitifully, and extended her arms to her sister. Prue handed Paige over and Piper hugged Paige close.
Phoebe was still rocking Pollux back and forth slowly. She kissed her little sister’s forehead, then decided to put as much as a positive spin on the situation as possible. “And you, Little Miss Pollux, most definitely spoke.” Phoebe rubbed noses with her sister, trying to calm the little girl.
Pollux looked back at Phoebe, then over to her eldest sister. “Roo.” Pollux held out her arms as Paige had done earlier. Prue gladly took her little sister and held her close.
“Alright.” Prue took charge of the situation. “Into the house, consult the book.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You let them see you” venom dripped from the Source’s words.
“I had to destroy the darklighter, didn’t I? He could have spilled your secret.”
“He should have had the littlest one. There was no reason for that shot to miss.”
“The older one was alerted to his presence, she knocked his crossbow from his hands. Then the middle sister froze him. Was I supposed to wait for him to tell them exactly who sent him, before I took action?”
The Source stood in silence a moment. Claudius did have a point, which was the only reason the Source hadn’t destroyed him yet. “Go. I will send for you when I need you.”
“My liege, we could . . .”
“When I need you.” The Source waited until Claudius had shimmered out. “Seer!”
The Seer shimmered in and bowed to the Source. “My liege.”
“We are going for the Hollow.”
“There has to be anoth . . .”
“I have made my decision. If I cannot defeat them, I will destroy magic for the entire world.”
“With all due respect, my liege, I do not see this as a viable solution.”
“It’s the only one I have. Are you saying you will stand and oppose me.”
“No, my liege. We will obtain the Hollow.”
“Wise decision.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phoebe was sitting between her two older sisters on the couch, flipping through the Book of Shadows. Paige was on Piper’s lap, Pollux on Prue’s - and the older girls had put the television on cartoons for the younger ones.
“Found him.” Phoebe stopped flipping through the book.
Prue looked over her shoulder. “Claudius . . . upper level demon . . . there’s a potion.”
Piper looked as well, “He must have sent the darklighter after Paige and Pollux, then when we trapped the darklighter, he destroyed him so that he couldn’t tell us who sent him.”
“Maka!” Pollux insisted.
“In a second, baby. We’ll get the pacifier in a second.” Prue ran a hand over Pollux’s hair. “Well then, why did he let us see him when he destroyed the darklighter.”
“It was an accident?” Phoebe reasoned.
“No. He smiled at us. Did you see him smile at us?”
“Gabba!”
“Now she wants to go to the beach?” Piper questioned.
“Poju!” Paige chimed in.
“Takka.” Neither of the little ones said that. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe looked at each other suspiciously then they turned to the television.
“Ika chiga babwa.” the blue alien on the television spoke to the small Hawaiin girl.
“Uh, Piper, how much television did you let them watch?” Prue questioned.
“Well, Pollux was obviously happy when she was watching it.”
“Wait a minute,” Phoebe tried to comprehend. “You mean we’ve been trying to figure out for days what she’s been saying and she’s been speaking Stitch?!?!?”
“I’ “ Pollux seemed to answer her sister.
“Alright, if I do have kids . . . I am definitely monitoring their television intake.”
“Wise move, sis.” Prue commented. “It’s hard to tell what these two would have done if they had their magic.”
“Yeah.” Phoebe agreed. “We could have had a real live Stitch running around the house. There has to be exposure risks with that.”
“Oh come on,” Piper looked at Phoebe. “How could one television character constitute and exposure risk?”
“Alright, back to the demon.” Prue ordered. “We need to make this potion, and quickly. We don’t know when he’ll come back for Pollux and Paige.”
Piper stood up, “Come on, Paige. I will teach you how to make a potion.”
“And I think I’ll change Pollux and we’ll take a nap,” Prue stood as well. “Call us when the potion is done. We’ll summon Claudius and vanquish him before he can hurt them.”
“Good plan. I’ll help Piper.” Phoebe stood and started walking towards the kitchen. She passed Cole in the foyer as he was coming in the front door. “Hey, baby!” Phoebe was happy to see Cole. She threw her arms around him and held him close. As soon as they were close together, every muscle in Phoebe’s body tensed. A moment later, they broke the embrace . . . Phoebe was left staring at Cole.
“What? What did you see?” Cole questioned.
“Nothing. What makes you think I saw anything?”
“You didn’t just get a premonition?”
“A premonition?” Phoebe laughed the idea off. “Why would you think that? Tell you what, we have a little demon issue here. Why don’t you go for a walk while we deal with it?”
“I would like to help you.”
“NO!!!” Phoebe tried to laugh it off again. “I mean, honey, you’re mortal - you could get hurt and I can’t concentrate on killing a demon and worry about protecting you.”
“But.”
“Please?”
Cole reluctantly agreed and walked back out the door. Phoebe practically ran to the book and started flipping pages.
“Uh, Phoebe?” Prue looked at her sister strangely. “We’ve already found Claudius and the vanquishing potion.”
“Not Claudius.” Phoebe was frantic. “The demon I saw killing Cole in the attic.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Make a damned move.” The evil guardian of the Hollow was growing tired of his good counterparts meditation. For Pete’s sake, it was just a game of chess, and it was not the last one they would ever play . . . or so he thought.
The good guardian opened her eyes and looked at evil. “You’re just mad because good is winning.”
“No. Just bored, standing here watching you think.”
“A - a - a, patience is a virtue.”
“Oh, I have plenty patience - three thousand five hundred years patient.”
“Hmm.” She pointed her finger at the board and a piece moves to another square. “There. Happy now?”
Evil moved a piece and smashed one of good’s pieces. “Now who’s winning?”
Good and evil look up as the Source appears in flames. Good moved next to evil and confronted the Source. “You need to leave immediately. This place is an ancient burial ground.”
“I know that. Thank you.”
Evil addressed his leader. “With all due respect, you are not allowed to be here.”
“Have you forgotten who I am? Whose side are you on?”
Good moved forward. “There are no sides. We protect all magic. That was the agreement.”
The Source responded by throwing a fireball at good and vanquishing her. “The agreement has just been revoked.” The Source watched as evil threw an electric bolt at him. This caused him to fall and as he got back up, his hood fell down, exposing his greenish, mutilated face.
“Please. The Halliwells are a threat to us all. It’s power is too great.”
“That’s exactly the power I need.” The Source pushed evil across the room and proceeded to the large doors. After a moment of struggling with the doors, he finally got them open, exposing a rectangular floating box in the middle of the room. The Source made the box float to him and then walked over to evil.
“No. Please don’t. The Hollow consumes powers.”
The Source opened the box, letting out thousands of black bee - like creatures, that flew into evil’s eye sockets. The Source then closed the box. “Now you’ll be able to consume powers. And give them to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phoebe swayed back and forth with Pollux on her hip, as Piper flipped pages in the Book of Shadows. They had changed both Paige and Pollux out of the dresses that Prue had them in earlier and Prue was downstairs trying to get Paige to eat her lunch, to which she was greatly protesting.
“So we found a demon with half a body but no demon with half a face.” Phoebe kissed Pollux’s forehead as Pollux yawned.
“Well, we do have a resident demonologist living in the house.”
“Yeah. We’ve had that conversation.”
“Alright. You keep looking. I’ll go get some coffee.”
“Okay.” Phoebe watched Piper leave, then went to flipping pages. Just as Piper had cleared the attic door, evil appeared before Phoebe and Pollux. “Piper!!!!” Phoebe gripped Pollux tighter.
Evil throws an electric bolt at Phoebe. Phoebe is thrown against the mirror, which smashes. Phoebe falls to her knees, dropping Pollux on her way down. Piper runs in and tries to blow evil up. Evil smiles at her. “Thank you.” Evil destroys a sewing machine in front of Piper. Piper grabbed a knife off a table and throws it at Evil. She successfully hits him in the neck and vanquishes him. The black bee - like creatures reappear and fly away.
“Phoebe, did you see that? Phoebe?” Piper picks up Pollux and tries to comfort her obviously shaken little sister, then watches as Phoebe falls on her stomach, exposing large pieces of glass stuck in her back. “Phoebe!! Leo!! Leo, we need you now!!”
Leo orbed in and immediately ran to Phoebe. The ruckus had also brought Prue, who immediately turned Paige away from the sight of Phoebe when they entered the attic. Leo started pulling glass from Phoebe’s back and healing her.
“What’s taking so long?” Piper demanded.
“She almost died. That’s what’s taking so long.” Leo answered.
“What happened?” Prue demanded, while rocking Paige back and forth while shielding her from the sight.
“One very mean demon.”
“Did you get him?” Phoebe asked as Leo helped her up.
“Yes. But, uh, something else got away. And that’s not all.” Piper handed Pollux to Phoebe. She then picked up a glass vase and handed it to Leo. “Throw this. Just do it.” Leo tossed the vase towards Piper. She threw up her hands in a freezing motion, but nothing happened. “My powers are gone.”
“It stole your powers?” Prue was growing more concerned by the minute.
“It stole . . . ate . . . absorbed, I don’t know. All I know is I got to get them back.” Piper walked towards the Book of Shadows as Leo carefully checked Pollux over for any signs of injury.
“I don’t understand. We vanquish a demon and then lose our powers. How does that work?”
Satisfied Pollux was physically okay, Leo looked up. “That thing must have absorbed your powers somehow. Although, I don’t know how.”
“Oh well, with the Source lurking around . . .”
Piper flipped a page in the book and immediately became excited. “That’s him. This is him. ‘Guardians of the Hollow . . . ring any bells?”
“That’s not possible.”
“Why not? What is it?”
“Because the Hollow consumes all magic, good or evil, and both sides agreed to guard it. That thing must have been the Hollow, it must have taken over the demon.”
“Well, how do we get it to regurgitate?”
“There’s no mention of a vanquish, here.
“You can’t vanquish it. The last time it was unleashed it nearly decimated all magic, all things.”
“The last time it was unleashed?” Prue’s worry had now moved up to like the fifth level of all things bad.
“Eons ago. Good and evil had to join forces and use their strongest magic. And even then, all they could do was contain it.”
“Okay. So if good and evil are seeing eye to eye on this one . . . who let it out?” Phoebe was worrying as much as Prue.
“The Source.” Piper realized.
“If he was desperate enough.”
“What better time . . .” Phoebe began.
Prue picked up on her train of thought. “Paige and Pollux are little, vulnerable, and powerless. If he gets our powers . . .”
“We don’t stand a chance.” Piper realized what her sisters were saying. “Which means he won’t stop at my powers. He’ll come after Prue’s and Phoebe’s.”
“But we can’t use our powers. The Hollow will just steal them.”
“Then we’ll just have to make potions.” Prue was doing her big sister job and trying to protect the little ones.
“This has to be connected to the demon with half a face.” Phoebe started frantically flipping through the book.
“I’ll make a potion to replicate my exploding power.” Piper started towards the kitchen.
“I’ll check with the Elders.” Leo orbed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prue was sitting in the living room, playing with Paige and Pollux when Piper, Phoebe, and Cole came in.
“We need to talk.” Phoebe stated solemnly.
“Talk.”
“I just asked Cole about the demon with half a face.”
“He’s the Source. Which I could have told you earlier if someone had shared all this with me.”
“Not now, honey.”
“The actual Source of all Evil?” Prue wanted to make sure she got it right.
“Yeah.” Piper stated matter-o-factly. “So, I’m thinking Daryl.”
“Daryl?” Prue looked at Piper strangely. “Why would we want to drag an innocent into all of this?”
“We don’t. But Daryl has a son that is the same age as Paige and Pollux are now. They’ll get along fine.”
“Excuse me?”
“Prue, the Source is after us. I don’t want them here for that! We could all . . .” Piper didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t want to give voice to what everyone was thinking.
“No. We’re not dragging Daryl into this. If something happens to us, the Source will only go after Paige and Pollux wherever they are. Daryl and his family don’t deserve to be dragged into this.”
“Then summon Mom.” Piper ordered.
“I’m afraid you can’t, Piper.” Leo supplied as he orbed in. “The Elders are of the opinion that they created this supernatural mess with their ages themselves, and now you have to deal with it.”
Piper fell back onto the couch. “Why am I not surprised? Then it has to be Daryl.”
“Piper, think. The Source will only kill Daryl - and his family. He wants the Halliwell line erased - all of us!”
“They’re just toddlers!”
“They won’t be toddlers forever.”
“Yeah, well if I’m not around to make up my mind - which is becoming more of a likelihood every second - then they’ve got a good fifteen years to grow up.”
“That may be true, Piper. But the Source knows that they’ll grow up to have their powers. And that they’ll us them on him. He will go after Paige. He will go after Pollux. He will destroy anything in his path. We will protect them.”
“And if we can’t.”
“Then the Halliwell line falls together.”
“That’s a great solution! All five of us . . . dead at once . . . two of us when we’re toddlers! How much sense does that make?”
“How much sense does it make to endanger our friends? To endanger people who would otherwise be fine and off the Source’s radar? Our job is still to protect innocents here, Piper. We cannot ignore that duty.” Prue raised her hand as Piper started to protest again. “I’ve made up my mind. Now, Leo, what else did the Elders say?”
“The Source unleashed the Hollow.”
“Already on that train, honey.” Piper was directing her anger at Prue towards Leo. “It took my powers. Anything else?”
“Good and evil magic need to join forces and read the inscription on the box where the Hollow is kept. That will put it back in it’s crypt and restore your powers.”
“Okay, so at least we know how to banish it.” Piper stated. “This is good news.”
Phoebe was less optimistic. “Good if the Source brings the box and we could find an evil being willing to help.”
“Hey Cole, too bad you’re not still evil.” Prue joked.
“One step at a time. First we vanquish the Source, then we’ll worry about putting Pandora back in it’s box.”
“Cole has a valid . . .” Leo’s sentence was stopped short by a darklighter shimmering in and aiming his crossbow at Paige. Prue instinctively tossed up a hand to deflect the bow.
“No! Wait! Your powers!” Cole tried to warn Prue when it was already to late. As the darklighter pulled the trigger, Leo jumped in front of the arrow meant for Paige. Phoebe then pulled the potion Piper had created from her pocket and hit the darklighter with it. The darklighter was vanquished, but once again, the black bee - like creatures flew away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ready? Prue, hold his hand.” Piper waits until Prue has done as requested. She then pulled out the arrow, causing a scream from Leo. Then Piper put the arrow on the coffee table. “Keep that away from Paige and Pollux, they’re whitelighters too.” Piper watched as Leo’s breathing got heavy. “You’re okay. Just lie back. Easy.”
“Still bossing everyone around, huh?”
“You better believe it.”
“I don’t understand,” Prue began, “How come you can heal us, but you can’t heal yourself?”
“It just doesn’t work that way.”
“Yeah, but you can switch powers with Phoebe.” Piper began. “Like we did before.”
“No! Look, if the Source comes and Phoebe doesn’t have her powers, you don’t stand a chance. I mean it! I am still your whitelighter.”
“Well, who’s bossing whom around now? Prue, go tell Phoebe to find something else - a spell, an amulet, whatever. Go!” Piper rarely ever spoke to Prue like that, but when she did it wasn’t good, so Prue was always quick to comply.

Prue walked into the conservatory where Cole was holding Pollux and Phoebe was pacing back and forth. Phoebe looked up as Prue came in. “It’ll never work.”
“Will anything?” Prue was ready to cling to any bit of hope that anybody would pitch to her.
“I don’t know.”
“So, we’re all just gonna die?”
“You can’t think that way.” Cole shifted Pollux to his other side.
“Why not? Isn’t that what we’re all thinking anyway?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I see nothing.” The Seer looked to the Source.
“What do you mean? Do I of do I not have the power to defeat the witches?”
“You misunderstood. I see nothing. No magic. No life. No world. The Hollow will consume everything, just as I warned.”
“Then if there’s no future, I have no further need for you Do I, Seer?”
“Please, I beg you. Find another way. Put the Hollow back where it belongs.”
“Not until I’m finished. Not until I’ve killed them all.”
“But that’s madness. The Hollow won’t let you stop there.”
“Then so be it!”
“Forgive me. I serve you as always, until the end.”
“Guard the Hollow. I have one more demon to recruit. One more power to obtain.” The Source leaves, then the Seer walks to the Hollow, places her hand on it, and looks into the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Piper came back into the living room to be with Leo, holding a glass of water. Paige was standing beside the couch, looking at Leo who had his eyes closed. Piper walked up slowly to them.
“Paige?”
Paige turned and looked at her big sister. “ ‘Eo herd?”
“Yes, baby. Leo is hurt.”
“Pi - ya ficks?”
“We’re going to try.”
“Pawucks an’ me ficks?”
Piper looked at Paige strangely. She couldn’t tell if Paige was having adult memories or she had some sort of reasoning behind this. “Why would you think that?”
“No tuch” Paige pointed to the arrow on the table. “Wike ‘Eo”
Piper deduced that it was a little bit of both - three-year-old logic and a flash of adult Paige’s memories. “I wish you could,” Piper picked Paige up and sat her on her lap as she sat on the couch next to Leo. “I wish you could. But you two aren’t big enough yet.”
“Oh.” Paige looked down at Leo. “Sowwy.”
“It’s okay. We’re going to fix this.”
Leo stirred, and looked up at Piper and Paige. He managed a weak smile for the toddler. “Hi, Paige.”
“ ‘Eo.” Paige regarded her brother-in-law in such a manner that one would have assumed she knew the severity of the situation. Paige reached a tiny hand out and gripped Leo’s wrist. “Pi - ya ficks.”
“Yes she will.” Leo held his mouth open while Piper pulled in some of the water. He then looked up at his wife. “You need to get out of here before he comes back.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“The Source . . .”
“Is not going to scare me away, and neither are you, so just forget about it. You’re not going to die, ‘cause, I’m not going to let you.”
“Paige and Pollux . . .”
“Will be fine. We’ll protect them.”
“What if . . .”
“Then they’ll see us fighting like hell to try to. And they’ll know they are loved.” Piper leaned over and kissed Paige’s head. “Besides, I know two people who are in quite a bit of trouble when they are normal again. We wouldn’t want to miss that.”
“No we wouldn’t.” Leo managed another smile for his wife, then closed his eyes to rest. Piper kept hold of his hand, and Paige leaned back into her big sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pollux and Cole watched as Phoebe went around the bedroom, searching through drawers.
“Phoebe, what are you looking for?”
“My potion book. Have you seen it?”
“I don’t think you’re going to save Leo with a potion.”
“Well, it’s not just to save Leo. It’s to save us all.”
“Oh yeah? How?”
“I - I don’t know, but I have to do something. I just can’t sit around and . . .” Phoebe noticed Pollux looking at her.
“May I make a suggestion?” Cole waited until Phoebe looked at him. “You have a little sister who could use your attention.”
“What about . . .”
“Phoebe, you’ve been through every scenario and so far, you’ve come up with nothing. While I don’t think you should give up hope by any means, I think that . . . maybe, you should prepare for the scenario that seems to be winning at the moment. Maybe you need to focus on Paige and Pollux right now.”
Phoebe sighed heavily. “We’re going to be fine.”
“Yes. And to prove that point, maybe you should treat this like a normal day. Play with Pollux.” Phoebe watched as Cole patted the bed.
Phoebe sighed heavily then sat on the bed next to Pollux and Cole. Pollux looked up at her big sister, and handed her the ever present stuffed dog. “Oh, you want me to have this? Thank you.” Phoebe kissed Pollux on the forehead, then began talking in a nonchalant voice to Cole, hoping to divert Pollux’s attention from anything being wrong. “Maybe Piper is right. Maybe we should take them to Daryl.”
“Prue’s right. It wouldn’t stop the Source.”
“They’re so little.” Phoebe tried to reason.
“True, but they’re Halliwells. That in itself shoots them to the top of the hit list.”
“Cole . . .”
“Phoebe, enjoy your baby sister. Even if it’s just for a few moments, do it. If for no other reason than to remind you what you’re fighting for.”
Phoebe relented and began playing with Pollux and the dog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phoebe, Pollux, and Cole had been playing together for about twenty minutes when Phoebe heard a ‘click’ come from the doorway. She turned and saw Prue snapping a picture.
“Prue?”
“I got some of Piper and Paige too. With all the pictures I’ve taken over the last few days, we should have more than enough. There are pictures of them with all of us.”
“Good. We’ll need to show them when they’re normal again.”
Just then Piper came rushing into Phoebe’s bedroom. “I have an idea.”
“We’re listening.”
“Remember the spell to call for a witch’s powers? Could that get our powers back from the Hollow?”
“It may be strong enough,” Prue mulled the thought over.
“It has to.” Phoebe commented.
“Could you watch Leo and the girls?” Piper looked at Cole. “Paige is sleeping in the chair next to Leo.” With that, the girls left the room, headed for the attic.
Cole picked up Pollux. “Want to go see your sister and Leo?” Cole asked as Pollux sleepily rubbed her face with her right hand. “Good. Come on. Let’s go.” Cole started to head out of the bedroom. Just as he reached the hallway, he gasped and disappeared.
Before Cole knew what had happened, he was standing inside a cave in the Underworld. He began looking around.
“Don’t be afraid.” The Seer’s voice caused Cole to spin around as he still held Pollux close.
“Who are you? Where am I?”
“Back in your once and future life . . . Belthazor.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Belthazor?” Cole looked at the Seer strangely and hugged Pollux even closer. “Seer.”
“Even now I can see the void where your demon half used to exist. It craves to be complete again.”
“How’d you know I was still alive?”
“I had a vision. One where you and I do great things together.”
“I don’t work with evil anymore.”
The Seer moved closer to Cole and Pollux. She reached out and softly touched Pollux’s cheek. “So powerful. So conflicted. She can be of use to you.”
“She’s part of the Charmed line. You shouldn’t have brought her here. You shouldn’t have brought either of us here. I don’t know what you’re getting at but, you’re wasting your time.”
“She is part of the Charmed line, but she’s the damaged part. Her past makes her more susceptible to new ideas.”
Cole looked at the Seer for a moment, trying to figure out what she meant exactly. He then shook his head once and glared at her. “I told you - I don’t work with evil anymore.”
The Seer glared back. “You might reconsider if you hope to save your precious witch. Only you and I can help beat the Source.”
“I’m listening.”
“If you take the Hollow, you can absorb the Source’s powers when he attacks. Once powerless, they can vanquish him.” The Seer picks up the Hollow box and walks towards Cole.
“And what happens to me after?”
“The witches and I will banish the Hollow back to its crypt. You will return to normal.”
“How do I know this isn’t one of the Source’s tricks? Or one of yours for that matter.”
“The Source has been corrupted by the Hollow. It’s going to destroy us all. He can not be allowed to continue with this path of madness.”
“If I do this, what do you see then?”
“A future for both sides.”
“Is this the great thing you saw us doing together?”
“Perhaps. However, you won’t even know unless the Source is stopped first. It’s your only chance to save your love.”
“And Pollux?”
“You can leave her here with me. I will bring her and the box when the Source is vanquished.”
“Too dangerous.”
“Would you rather be holding her when you absorb the Source’s powers?”
“As long as he hits me, she should be fine.” Cole sat Pollux on the ground. “We’ll go home in just a second.” Cole walked over to the Seer and she opened the box. The bee - like creatures then flew into Cole through his eyes and mouth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the manor’s attic, Piper - wounded - was lying on the floor across from her sisters who were engaged in hand to hand combat with the Source. Phoebe kicked the Source and he fell to the floor. Prue grabbed the crystals. “Phoebe!” Prue tossed Phoebe the crystals and she started arranging them on the floor near her. The Source stood up, towering over Phoebe.
“Your power was always the weakest, hardly worth taking. Your life however, is.”
“Prue, Now!”
Prue slid the last crystal into place and the Source found himself surrounded by electricity bolts. Prue and Phoebe headed back to Piper. The Source smiled at the sisters and waved his hand at one of the crystals. The crystal moved and the trap disappeared.
“Now the moment we’ve all been waiting for.” The Source threw a fireball at Phoebe. Before it could reach her, however, Cole appeared in front of his beloved holding her baby sister. Cole absorbed the Source’s power. “Belthazor!”
“No. The Hollow.” Phoebe realized. She reached out and took Pollux from Cole.
Cole turned and hit the Source with a fireball. “Hurry, the spell.”
Phoebe returned to her sisters and sat Pollux on the wounded Piper’s lap. Together the three oldest siblings began reading from a piece of paper that Phoebe pulled from her pocket. “Patricia, Penelope, Melinda, Astrid, Helena, Laura, and Grace,” They watched as the Source caught on fire. “Halliwell witches stand strong beside us, vanquish this evil from time and space.”
The Source yells as he is engulfed in a gigantic explosion. Then he and all traces of him are gone - vanquished. The Seer immediately appears holding the Hollow box.
“Who are you?” Phoebe demanded.
“Someone who just helped save your lives.” The Seer opened the box and the Hollow leaves Cole and goes back in the box. “Quickly. Take my hand.”
Cole looked at Phoebe from his spot on the floor. “Trust her. If you want your powers back.”
Phoebe goes over and joins hands with the Seer. The Seer holds the box and looks at Phoebe. “Say the inscription with me.”
Phoebe nods and together they begin the chant. “Abolio exume ga ume to eternius.” They watched as the box floated up in the air and emitted a bright light. Then it was gone - once again in it’s crypt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prue rushed into the living room holding Pollux. She was followed by Phoebe. Leo was lying on the couch, his eyes closed. Prue stared at her brother-in-law, then turned back to her sister. “It’s too late for the power swapping spell.”
“We have to save him.”
“May I make a suggestion?” The Seer entered with Cole who was carrying Piper. “The young ones are half-whitelighter, are they not?”
“Yes, but they don’t have their powers at the moment. And even when they have their powers, healing is not something they’ve mastered.”
“The magic is always within them. They were born witches. Perhaps, if you put the two of them together . . .”
“Try.” Piper demanded - well demanded as much as possible in her weakened state.
Phoebe picked up Paige and handed her to Prue as well. Phoebe then made the two girls hold hands, and then hold their hands over Leo’s wound. “It’s not working.”
“Make Pollux hold Leo’s hand.”
Phoebe did as requested, and what seemed like an eternity later, the familiar glow came from Paige’s hand as she healed Leo.
Leo woke up. “Prue, Paige, Pollux”
“Me ficks!” Paige squealed in delight.
Prue kissed her sister’s head. “Yes you did, baby. You both did.” Prue then kissed Pollux’s head as well.
“Leo.” Piper squirmed until Cole gently sat her down, then she slowly walked to her husband, who began healing her.
“All is as it should be again. Time to return to my side.” The Seer looked at Cole. “Too bad Belthazor’s gone. He would have made a great new source.”
“Too bad.” Cole supplied.
The Seer then walked over to Phoebe who was now holding Pollux. The Seer held Pollux’s tiny hand. “Too bad you don’t fight for my side. I could use someone with your powers.”
Pollux simply smiled back at her. Phoebe kissed her sister’s cheek, then looked at the Seer.
“I don’t know who you are, but whoever you are, we thank you.”
“Oh I didn’t do this for your future. I did it for mine.”
“I don’t understand,” Prue looked at the Seer, “If we got our powers back, where did the Source’s go?”
“Into the void.” The Seer smiled then disappeared.
“Okay, who was that?” Piper questioned.
“A very evil person.” Cole took Pollux from Phoebe.
“Yeah. One that saved our lives, and helped us kill the Source.” Phoebe smiled at her husband and little sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I thought I had lost you.” Piper pulled Leo onto the bed with her.
“You were