"Piece of cake!" Paige smiled and extended her hand in front of her, palm up and began a recitation off the top of her head.
Calling on the stars above,
Bring me tickets to see the stars of Hollywood,
In a flick for kids in love.
A puff of green sparkles of light immediately deposited a pair of small tickets into the palm of Paige's hand. They read ‘Bayside Queen Theater - Admit One For _________. Good only on __________ , 1942.’ Paige furrowed her brow in confusion. "Okay... maybe not so much a piece of cake. More like a crumbled cookie. I don't get it; what was wrong with that spell?"
Leo leaned in to have a look at the tickets and laughed when he saw the source of her confusion. "These are the days before auto-printers, remember? Most movie tickets in this time come in big rolls, like you're used to seeing at a county fair in your time. They still use those in your time, right?"
"Actually, we all have chips implanted into our hands that computers read to let us pay for everything – like walking human credit cards!"
Leo tilted his head and raised his eyebrow in surprise. "Really?"
Paige laughed. "No! Gullible much?" she exclaimed in a teasing tone. "Sorry, couldn't help myself. So anyway, what? Do we just write in the movie?"
"Yup," replied Leo. Paige pulled a pen from the front pocket of her military blouse and wrote in Casablanca and the date. Eyeing her penmanship, Leo took the opportunity to return Paige's teasing. "I see the future doesn't much bother with penmanship in schools..."
Paige rolled her eyes. "Hey, gimme a break, huh? I do most of my writing on a computer or texting – I'm rusty!"
"Texting?" wondered Leo aloud, knowing he wouldn't get an answer.
Sure enough, Paige brushed his question off, and instead, shut her eyes, concentrating on her glamouring. Her outfit transformed into a snappy woman's business suit of the era, her head topped with a jaunty but feminine fedora style hat. She then eyed Leo. "I don't think many movie moguls wear army uniforms, Leo."
"Oh. Right." He quickly glamoured out of his Pvt. Walsh disguise, taking back his real face and changing into a civilian wardrobe.
"Nice outfit Leo. I see you're a big fan of Bozo the Clown?" Paige said with a laugh when she saw the clothes he had chosen.
"No..." He narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean? I don't see any floppy shoes on my feet." Paige just shook her head with a smile in response. "Hey, this is what Hollywood types wore in this time!"
"Teal and green checkered jacket with argyle patterned bowtie?" asked Paige incredulously.
"Hey, I never said it was tasteful... just in fashion. Didn't you ever see a picture of Dorey Sherry?"
"Who?"
"Never mind," replied Leo with a sigh. "Maybe you should just follow my lead."
"Yes, sir!" said Paige accompanying the statement with a short mock salute and a smile. "Let's get outta here!"
The pair came out from the bush they had been hiding behind and approached the front door. They didn't bother to approach with any stealth as the two teens were still seeing nothing but each other as they necked on the couch. Paige shook her head. "With the way they're going at it, we could probably just orb into the kitchen, do the ritual and leave without them noticing."
Leo chuckled. "Still, I'd rather not take that chance." He gave the door a few quick raps with his knuckles. Paige leaned over to Leo's ear and commented quietly, "What kind of reckless teenagers make out right in the window where their parents could catch them from outside the house?" This brought a smirk to Leo's face as an only slightly rumpled red-headed girl answered the door.
Getting a closer look at the girl, both Leo and Paige were struck with the feeling that there was something familiar about this girl. The redhead fidgeted with her blouse, smoothing it down self-consciously, but was still clearly relieved the adults at the door weren't any authority figures. "Can I help you, Mr. And Mrs...?"
Leo puffed himself up, trying to come off as self-important and extended his arm, gently shaking the girl's hand, and the sense of familiarity began to burn in the back of his mind. Who is this girl? He was now thrown off entirely, finding himself suddenly self-conscious before the young lady for reasons he couldn't put his finger on. "Wyatt. Uh, that is, I am Mr. Wyatt. She's not Mrs. Wyatt. That is, we're not married. That would be... wrong. Not that there's anything wrong with her. I mean, uh, this is -"
" - Ms. Matthews. Thanks for the wonderful introduction." finished Paige. She too felt the strong aura of familiarity being stirred by this young girl, but instead of being thrown off and slightly intimidated by her like Leo was, Paige found this girl's presence inspired a familial feeling.
Judging by her narrowed eyes and mild frown, the girl was not experiencing anything aside from some serious suspicion. Paige realized her and Leo's vastly different demeanors were probably not helping their trustworthiness and quickly tried to explain why they were on the girl's doorstep. "Don’t mind him. He missed lunch – low blood sugar. You like movies, right?"
"Yeaaah..." the girl answered slowly.
"Well, how would you like to see a free one this afternoon?" asked Paige brightly. As the words left her lips she realized she was not helping their case with that approach. 'I may as well have driven up in a van and offered candy and puppies if she'd get inside,' thought Paige.
A teenage boy's voice called out from the living room. "Who is it, Penny?"
With those words the obvious hit the pair of time travelers like a ton of bricks. This girl was Grams. It occurred to Paige that she'd once seen a photo of teenage Penny, but really, she should've seen the resemblance between this girl and the woman she'd met in the 1960's. Of course, if there was one thing that the Halliwells had in common, it was not seeing the obvious when relatives drop in from other times.
Penny crossed her arms as the boy joined her side. "That's a good question, Bobby." She crossed her arms, eyeing the pair. "Who are you people?" Growing up, her mother had drilled into her that she must be cautious with whom she trusted – even family, sometimes. She'd heard the story of her mother's cousin who back in the 20's had turned evil and tried to kill her and her other cousins. It was that incident that had prompted Penny's mother to move back to San Francisco to help protect the ancestral home in the first place.
Paige now had a stupid grin plastered on her face as this ‘little’ Grams lived up to her reputation of a tough witch in the making. As much as she wished she could tell Penny who she really was, they didn't have time for a reunion if they wanted to attack Kaalya before he realized Wilkins' mission had failed. Paige did her best to shape her grin into her version of the fake friendliness of a 1940's promotions person. "Well, young lady, we're hoofing it around town giving away free tickets to a new motion picture called Casablanca. Y'know, to get the word of mouth going; get some butts in the seats."
Penny raised an eyebrow at the strange woman on her boyfriend's doorstep. "Anyone ever tell you that you sound like you're doing a bad Katherine Hepburn impression?"
"Hey, it's not ba- uh, va -very nice to talk to your elders that way." 'WHEW, close one!' thought Paige. "But I don't blame ya. See, I'm from...Hollywood. You know us Holly-weirdos!" she finished with a laugh and too big grin to cap it.
Penny didn't look impressed. "Right. So, what are you selling then?"
"Nothing!" replied Paige cheerfully. "Just trying to get the word of mouth going, like I said!” She flapped the tickets. “Free! Last ones left!"
Penny still didn't seem convinced but her boyfriend seemed quite keen on the idea. He wrapped an arm around Penny, squeezing her lightly. "Aw, c'mon Penny! Why pass up a free picture? My parents are gonna be home soon, anyway, so we should get outta here. And hey, isn't that the new Bogart picture?" he directed the question Paige's way. She nodded in the affirmative. "I know you have a crush on him – you like all the older actors."
The young man beamed a grin at the two strangers from Hollywood as they handed over the tickets. "Gee, thanks lady!"
Paige was already backing off the front porch in an attempt to appear disinterested in the house, and to encourage the young couple's departure. "Ok, cool! Well, we'd better get going. Things to see, people to do – er, uh – yeah, and you two better skedaddle yourselves! That movie starts in 10 minutes!"
The boy nodded eagerly. "Don't you worry ma'am, we'll tell everyone about this!" A shocked expression splashed across Paige's face for just a moment as he continued to talk. How was he on to them? "You'll get that word-of-mouth you're looking for! I just hope for your sake it’s a good picture!" he said as he and Penny began their way down the sidewalk.
"Great! Thanks!" answered Leo, waving goodbye. "Enjoy yourselves!" he called after them as they turned a corner.
Paige heaved a sigh of relief as the couple went out of sight. She glanced around, making sure they were clear of witnesses, before grabbing Leo's arm. "Let's go!" she said as they disappeared in a whirl of orbs.
The pair reappeared almost instantly inside the house's kitchen and Paige hurriedly searched the kitchen's drawers. Meanwhile, Leo patted down the wall, looking for the time ripple that must have been created when they traveled into the past, quickly finding his hand passing through a slightly discolored section of the wall. After a couple drawers Paige finally exclaimed, "Ah-ha!" and pulled out a small box of matches. Paige pulled out 5 small tea candles from her purse, arranging them in the pattern of the points of a triquetra at the base of the time ripple, lit them, and took a deep breath. "Let's hope this works." She began to chant.
“Hear these words, hear the rhyme,
Heed the hope within my mind,
Make this ripple in this time,
Travel forward to our time!”
As the portal glowed into existence the voice of the teenaged Penny Halliwell could be heard coming from the living room, calling back to someone. "Yes, I know we're in a hurry, thank you, but it's always freezing in that theater and I'm not going to let you give me your coat and suffer instead! My sweater is in the kitchen. If you'll just hold your horses -"
Paige and Leo exchanged surprised glances and shrugged before dashing into the swirling vortex.
Moments later a cry of "OUCH!" emanated from the living room.
"Oh! You're bleeding – uh, oops, how did that happen? That needle must have been stuck in my sweater from my... sewing earlier. Let me bandage that up for you! It's a shame, I guess we're gonna miss that picture. I guess we'll just have to go to the soda shop like we planned." Penny certainly wasn't going to a movie that two probable warlocks set them up for, but she was young and still had a social life to live! 'I can just tell mom over breakfast tomorrow,' she thought as she went to get a bandage for Bobby.
Although only a few minutes had passed, the tension in the dilapidated old kitchen had made it feel like hours. "I thought their return should be instantaneous? Like when we returned from the 70's to fight Nicholas!" said Prue in the irritated tone her sisters recognized as the one she used to mask her fear.
The older Piper crossed her arms. "Yeah, see, that's the thing about time travel – you never know. It could be that however long they spend there will pass here." She shrugged. "Or not. And we won't know for sure one way or another until something comes out of that portal. It’s irritating that way." She sighed.
Seeing the clouds of worry further darken her older sister's eyes, the younger Phoebe tried to lighten the mood. "At least we know the past hasn't been changed too drastically. I mean, we're still here, right?"
Prue began to pace the small room like a caged lion. "I feel like we should be doing something!"
"Like what?" asked the Phoebe from her time. "A game of ‘I Spy’? Here, I’ll start. I spy with my little eye, something that needs to chill.”
Prue shot her a withering look. "Being a smart ass isn't very attractive, little miss!"
"Don't you 'little miss' me!" shot back the younger Phoebe. "Who do you think you are? Grams?" The older Phoebe just groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, squinting.
Prue spun on her heel to face Phoebe. "Why you-" began Prue haughtily, but she was she was quickly interrupted by the older Piper.
"Hey – hush! Both of you!" she said loudly over the bickering in her best 'mom' voice. "Arguing isn't going to make them come back any faster!"
"Yeah, but it does help pass the time," said the younger Phoebe wryly.
The older Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I never realized how much of a smart ass I really was!"
"Still are," teased the older Piper.
Her time's Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Oh, c'mon! That was too easy. I practically set that line up for you!"
Piper shrugged, but before a rejoinder could be vocalized the sound of magic filled the room and the portal reopened and out stepped Paige.
"Miss me?" said Paige as she was engulfed by her sisters.
"Oh, thank God!" exclaimed Piper as Leo lept out of the portal. Lost in the moment, the older Piper immediately sprang from the group hug to embrace Leo and laid a passionate kiss on his lips. She quickly realized she was the only one in his embrace and broke off the kiss. Leo, not expecting any of this, returned the hug after a moment’s hesitation.
Piper suddenly became self-conscious of the fact that this was not 'her' Leo, but a Leo who had just met her and the hug ended awkwardly. "Just glad to see you're okay," said Piper and she patted him on the shoulder a couple times.
Leo’s face flushed, and he smiled warmly at this. "Thanks."
Her face broke into a toothy grin, which was a combo of embarrassment and relief that he was okay – and at what he was wearing. Piper had fallen into dressing her husband over the years, as he didn't particularly enjoy shopping any, and she was more than happy to steer him away from his naturally plaid-flannel-heavy fashion sense. This little ensemble only reinforced that decision.
"Is someone after you?" asked Prue, suddenly noting the haste with which the pair had exited the portal.
Paige smoothed out her skirt. "Only Grams," she replied with a sly smirk. At their surprised expressions, Paige raised a hand to stop their questions before they began. "Don't worry! She doesn't – didn't – know who we were – I think. Anyway, didn't tell her anything. She just almost caught us hopping our ride home."
"What's with the get-ups?" asked Piper, now off red-alert.
"In a minute," answered Paige hastily, grabbing the hands of the sisters from her time. "First, we need to check that we didn't change anything for Grams." She and the sisters orbed away, leaving Leo and the sisters of 1999 standing there bemused.
"Leo!" said Prue impatiently, slapping him a few times with the back of her hand.
"Huh? Oh, right!" They all joined hands and followed the sisters from 2007 back to Grams at the manor. They were surprised to find Penny already in conversation with Paige when they reformed in the attic. They were discussing their run-in in 1942.
"Boy, she's fast!" exclaimed the younger Phoebe.
"No kidding! Leo could take some notes from her," added the younger Piper, referring to her time's Leo.
"So... everything is fine?" asked Prue.
"Yup!" answered Paige. "A total surgical strike – no messy clean up!"
Prue smirked and put her hands on her hips. "Okay, so what's with the cheesy get-ups? Especially you, Leo – yeesh! Plaid?"
Penny answered before Paige could formulate a defense for her, in her opinion, cute outfit. "A ruse dear. A clever one, actually. Messy and risky, but clever nonetheless. I only vaguely remember it now, but I was visiting with some boy..."
"Bobby," interjected Paige with a smirk, "And you have some kinda version of 'visiting'! Quite scandalous, little Miss Halliwell!" said Paige in a scolding voice, only to be met with an unappreciative grimace from Penny. "Oh, I'm just teasing, Grams! I only hope you weren't too strict with my sisters with boys… seeing how you were!" joked Paige, continuing to tease. “Unless you were practicing CPR or something…”
Grams knew there was no scolding Paige out of these jibes, so she decided to just change the subject. "Anyhow, I do recall that these two Hollywood types offered us two tickets to see some movie... I remember it seemed awfully suspicious at the time – but we headed to the theater. Then I had to come back for something or other and I saw a woman's foot disappear into a portal. At the time, I didn't know what to think about it. I told my mother, but nothing else came of it, so I forgot about it. Until now, anyway. Well! Mystery solved then, huh girls?" she finished, hoping to close the subject.
"Wait, wait, wait! Let me get this straight. You were at a boy's house. Alone. Fooling around ?" asked the younger Phoebe.
"You didn't even approve of me going on a date alone until I was 17!" exclaimed Prue.
Penny, despite not having yet had the chance to do the things she was accused of, was primed to defend her future actions and began heatedly, "Girls! Girls! Did it ever occur to you that I might have a good reason?" All the sisters shot her a sardonic look. Penny, eager to change the subject, turned her attention to Paige. She shook her head, taking on her lecturing tone. "Paige, honey, I know that this was all pre-destined, but you really should be more careful. Or at least work on your acting. You stuck out like a sore thumb!"
Paige frowned. "But I did my best to use the lingo and stuff..."
Leo nodded. "Yeah... about that. A little over the top," he said with an apologetic shrug.
Paige threw up her hands. "Well, why didn't you say anything?"
Leo shrugged. "I was afraid you'd be self-conscious and act even more unnaturally."
Paige shook her head at Leo and Penny. "I think that you two just aren't used to my particular brand of exuberance!"
The older Phoebe shook her head with a smirk. "Oh, don't worry Paige. Some of us just weren't meant to be super spies. You're still an awesome witch."
Paige shrugged. "Well, at least I got to see Ella Fitzgerald."
"What?" exclaimed the younger Phoebe. "Not fair! I love her stuff!"
"How did you manage that?" asked the older Phoebe.
Paige began to explain what had transpired, but she was soon interrupted by a swirl of energy that appeared in the middle of the attic.
The eldest Piper rolled her eyes in preparation of a fight and raised her hands. "What now?"