The raven haired woman was just saying something about wiping memories, theirs presumably, so without hesitation Phoebe had picked up a nearby vase and hurled it at the intruders while they still had the drop on them. Piper meanwhile had found them impervious to her freezing power and yelled out the front door. "They won’t freeze!” Phoebe chucked a toaster before ducking back behind the doorway and shouted, “Prue!"
Prue promptly dropped the shopping bags in her hands and came dashing up behind her sisters. She flicked her fingers, and sent Chris flying. His Phoebe promptly levitated, catching him before he crashed through the nearby window. Prue froze, her eyes widening, as she realized what she was witnessing. "Phoebe? Piper?"
The older Piper looked locked eyes with Prue, and winced. “Aw, crap.”
At this reaction, Prue began to pull back her hand to send someone else flying.
Piper held up her hands. "Whoa, there! Hang on, don't panic - we're you," she said. "Obviously," she added, gesturing at the younger versions of herself and Phoebe. The older Phoebe half smiled as if she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
Prue continued to squint at them suspiciously. "Right. How do we know you're not warlocks?"
"Yeah! I can't fly!" exclaimed the younger Phoebe, "Not even 10 years in the future!" she said, recalling their recent trip to 2009.
"Actually, I can… so to speak."
"No, not buying it," continued Prue. "You could easily be powerful warlocks. I mean, how can you counter everything we throw at you?"
"Because we are you," replied Phoebe.
"Well, some of us are anyway," mumbled Paige.
"Yeah - not helping!" replied the older Piper.
"Or you're looking to replace us! Two of you look like my sisters. How long until you-" she pointed at Paige, "-replaced me, and he replaced Leo?" she finished, pointing at Chris.
"She does have a point," responded the elder Phoebe.
"Want us to prove it? Fine." Piper threw an orange from a nearby fruit bowl into the air, freezing it. "We don't freeze. But I can freeze things."
"So?" exclaimed Prue, "Maybe you've got some kind of potion that makes you immune to our powers or cast a spell to make us think that you’re using our powers!"
"Yeah," Paige roller her eyes, "that's plausible."
Piper glared at her. "Still not helping!" She paused for a moment, before a look of inspiration dawned on her face. "Why not let them vanquish us?"
"The power of three?" asked the younger Phoebe
"Sure," said the older Piper, placing her hands on her hips. "Chant away ladies," she gestured at them with one hand. The younger sisters looked at each other a little surprised, shrugged, and began chanting in unison.
"The power of three will set us free! The power of three will set us free!"
After a full minute of this the elder Piper finally cleared her throat in interruption. "Satisfied?"
"No," snapped Prue.
Chris rolled his eyes. "You always said she was stubborn - but this is ridiculous. Doesn't she know anything about how magic works?"
"Hey!" exclaimed Prue indignantly. Chris raised both his hands in a mock gesture of apology. "Whoa! Don't go flinging me around the room again!" Prue half-smirked in a sarcastic but still menacing manner as if to say 'don't test me.'
"People! People!" cried the elder Piper. "Still have loved ones to save. Enough of this!" She pointed at Prue. "Your diary combination in 10th grade was 7-15-32. And you think I over-pepper my chili."
Caught in the moment, Prue shot back defensively, "I've never told you that!"
Piper smiled. "You have. Or will, anyway. You!" Piper pointed at her younger self, "Our first crush was on the Professor on Gilligan's Island when we were eight. And you," she turned to her Phoebe, "Wanna do the honors?" Phoebe pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Sure…. Um…" She thought for a moment, and then looked up in surprise. "Huh. There's no need! They're convinced… mostly. I can feel it." At the expression on their past selves faces Phoebe elaborated, with a little pride in her voice, "Got the empathy thing going." She smiled and this was returned by a similar expression on past Phoebe's face.
"Cool."
Future Phoebe continued. "Can be. And I'm sensing our big sis is still a touch suspicious. Go ahead," she nodded reassuringly at Prue, "Ask."
"Ook, that's creepy…" remarked past Piper. "And I'll bet it gets annoying."
"Ooh, yeah," agreed the older Piper. Phoebe shot her a look. "What? You must know it, or felt it anyway!" Her sister's face admitted as much.
"Ok, so if you're us… then where am I? Or am the one that needs saving? And who are these people?"
Piper's face softened. "Oh, Prue, honey…"
As confusing as it all was, it was this sisterly concern, not magical secret knowledge, which finally won Prue over. She finally let herself really take in the sight before her and she found herself enveloped in a hug with these new, but familiar sisters. "Well, let me have a look at you!" She stepped back, examining them. Really looking at them now, Prue could see the subtle changes time had wrought on their appearance. Both her sisters, but Phoebe especially, looked, simply put, more mature. Their faces were slightly more angular, and shallow creases lined both sister's eyes and foreheads. Prue smirked. "You have wrinkles!"
"I do not…" Phoebe crossed her arms as Prue leveled an appraising gaze at her future sister. "They're laugh lines."
The younger Piper tilted her head thoughtfully with a small smile on her face. "Well, I for one am happy to see time has been good to us. I was afraid with all those years of fighting demons... being thrown against walls… and the stress! That's a lot of wear and tear on a girl! Looks like you've taken it pretty well. Hell, you might even look better than I do now." Her expression turned into an inquisitive frown. "How much older are you, uh, we, anyway?"
Piper opened her mouth to answer herself but was interrupted by Chris shushing her. "Oh, shhh yourself, mister!" she replied with a swat at his arm. "There's no harm in them knowing that much!"
Piper turned back to her past sisters. "That depends. When is this exactly?"
"Friday!" answered Phoebe cheerfully.
"Yeah…" Answered the older Piper slowly. "And…?"
"Oh… uh, November, 9th? 1999."
"Ok. Then that would put us… we're from 8 years in the future. 2007."
The younger Piper raised an eyebrow, "So that would make me… 35. Huh!"
"You're 32?" Phoebe gestured at herself. The older version just grinned and nodded. "Wow! You know they always say that a woman only really reaches her peak in her thirties, and I guess they're right!" She gestured between herself and her future counterpoint. "We're hot!"
"Uh, thanks?" Phoebe replied, chuckling at her younger self's exuberance.
What was most striking to Prue though wasn’t the new hair, or the more mature faces. No, it was the look in her future sister's eyes. Phoebe especially held herself differently. Not only was she obviously more comfortable in her own skin, but her eyes betrayed a confidence and maturity Prue had always hoped to see in her littlest sister. Piper's presence, meanwhile, nearly owned the room. There wasn't a hint of the often meek bearing she was used to seeing her sister hold. She'd obviously come into her own – both as a witch and a woman.
"Okay!" exclaimed Prue "this is… too weird! My baby sister is two years older than me?"
"Uh," interjected Chris, "I hate to interrupt this self-affirmation session and all, but I really don't think it's a good idea for you to reveal any more information. I mean, you don't remember being visited by your future selves, right?" he said to the older sisters. They shook their heads no. "Yeah, so that means there's a good chance it isn't destined - which means we need to be very careful about just what we reveal to you!"
Phoebe sighed. "Fine…" She turned to their past selves. "Can we have a minute? Just to – y'know – figure a few things out?"
Prue nodded before her sisters could offer their input. "Yeah… sure, I guess."
The elder Phoebe turned to Paige "Do the honors?" she asked brightly.
"Sure," she replied. "We'll be in the attic," she said to the younger sisters. The four joined hands and orbed upstairs.
"Well…." said Piper after the visitors had disappeared. "Lunch, anyone?" When they gave her a strange look she responded, "What? No sense in standing here waiting."