There stood their sister, clad in a pair of dark blue denim jeans, a fitted baby blue t-shirt, and a long soft-knit cardigan. The raven-haired sister nodded gently in return.
“Wait, past Prue, or our Prue?” asked Phoebe.
“I know it's been six years but I kinda thought you'd be able to tell the difference Pheebs,” answered Prue, a smile playing on her lips. Piper felt a tightness she hadn't realized she'd been holding over her heart since traveling back in time release, and her eyes welled over, spilling a stream of tears down her cheeks. Prue couldn't hold herself back at this and took a few quick steps across the room, and each sister with one arm, pulling them hard into her.
They stayed like this for a long moment, with both Phoebe and Piper hugging either side of Prue's head with their own faces, arms all entangled. But soon Prue blinked back the tears glistening in her own eyes and met the equally misty-eyed gaze of her youngest sister. “And what do you think you're doing just standing there?” she asked with a gleam in her eye.
Paige sniffled a little bit, but smiled nonetheless, and shrugged. “Keeping a respectful distance?”
Prue shook her head and sighed. “Come here baby girl; there's room for four.” Paige nodded and joined in the warm embrace. For the living sisters, although they had left another Prue just moments earlier, this was different. Not only because they could be fully open with her, but because of what they hoped it signified: that they were finally going to be allowed to see her again. Prue gave a final tight squeeze and they all stepped apart. The eldest sister wiped the tears from her eyes and laughed. “I told myself I wasn't gonna cry, dammit all!”
“Prue, I don't...” began Phoebe, but trailed off as overwhelmed by her own emotions as but those coming from everyone else in the room.
“What I think she's trying to say,” said Piper is a voice raspy with emotion, “is how? I mean, it's wonderful, but why now?”
Prue shook her head. “You know the Elders. Always with the mysterious crap – no offense Leo,” she added when she realized her was there.
He smiled. “None taken. There was a reason I quit.”
“And none too soon,” added Prue. “You can't imagine how much it was killing, not being able to say anything to you.”
“Couldn't have been too much, what with you being dead already,” remarked Paige, who immediately blushed, realizing what she said. “Err, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have-”
Prue laughed, interrupting her hasty apology. “No need, Paige. It's one of the things I love about you! Tell you the truth, everyone up there treated me with such kid gloves it's nice to be subject of a little sisterly teasing,” she finished with a wink.
“So, that means you have been watching us this whole time?” asked Phoebe.
Piper frowned and glanced down. “I'm sorry for everything, Prue. There have been so many times I wish you could have been here.” She clenched her jaw and looked up. “Or at least told me what to do. You always knew...”
Prue shook her head. “No, I didn't. It was always the same for me as I bet it's been for you. I just acted like I knew. For you guys; my sisters. So you could be allowed to feel that fear.” She pushed a lock hair away from her sister's face, tucking it behind her ear. "Piper, you held it together better than I ever could have." She looked at Phoebe. "You both did."
"You would have too, Prue," said Piper.
Prue shook her head. "Maybe. I don't know. But I know I wouldn't have ever been able to let either of you hold me up if I thought I'd just failed one of my sisters – not that you failed me. Don't ever think that. That's my pride getting in the way. And that could've gotten all of us killed. But anyway, you 'why now'... it wasn't just about you guys being ready to see me again.” She sighed. “It took a long time before I was ready to move on and accept things. If it weren't for Mom and Grams, I think the powers that be would've recycled me after all the attempts to escape the hereafter I've made."
"You tried to escape the afterlife?" asked Paige in amazement.
Prue's mouth broke into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Oh, yeah. I tried astrally projecting myself, co-opting séances, possessing a whitelighter... I figured they’re already dead, so maybe I could at least get out and talk to you – no harm done. I got pretty close to escaping with that spirit named Clyde. Had a whole deal worked out, until that whole Lulu and Frankie fiasco. After that he got pretty paranoid that he'd get in trouble with the Elders again."
"Sorry for ruining your escape route," said Phoebe sheepishly.
Prue squeezed her little sister's shoulder. "Don't be. I am where I am for a reason. I know that now.”
“Couldn’t they have made you a whitelighter? I mean, they made Kyle one. If anyone’s earned their wings, it’s you!” said Paige.
Prue shook her head. “They offered, but it comes with the same strings as even the Elders have. No seeing living loved ones. And if I broke that rule – well, you know. Off to the recycling bin for me. And even I know I’m too stubborn to be down here and not see my family. Besides, I'd rather wait ‘up there’ for a few more decades, than be reincarnated. Lord knows, I'd probably end up as Phoebe's daughter or something as some sort of cosmic karmic joke!"
Phoebe grimaced. “Yeah, that would be... weird.”
“So that wasn't you flipping the book from up there... you know, right after...” asked Piper.
Prue shook her head. “I wish it were. I would've if I could have.”
Piper slapped Leo on the shoulder. “You were an Elder! Why didn't butt in for Prue?!”
Leo grimaced and over dramatically rubbed his shoulder. “Hey! I told you – they never let me contact her. I wasn’t supreme leader of the Elders. It's policy for every Elder not to see their loved ones when they've passed on. It would interfere with the greater good!” Piper huffed in response and rolled her eyes.
“It's okay Leo, I know,” said Prue. “It's hard to explain how things are up there,” though she too rolled her eyes. “Anyway, that’s not the point. Once I’d accepted my… situation… I just had to wait for you guys to fulfill your destiny. Mom and Grams kept me filled in on the general details, but part of being up there is that time moves differently. You remember when you and Leo went up there the first time.”
Piper nodded, recalling the time she’d gone missing for a month, which only felt like a couple days for her.
“It makes keeping up with everything difficult, to say the least,” added Prue. “They only let me start watching a few months before you faked your deaths… but when you didn’t show up, you know, up there, I knew you’d beaten the system.” She said the last with a prideful twinkle in her eye.
The group shared a quiet chuckle before Prue continued. “So, when you won the Ultimate Battle I started pestering them, and that’s when they showed me.”
“Showed you what?” asked Phoebe.
“What just happened – or did happen. Whatever, you know. You traveling to the past, meeting our past selves. It’s like what new whitelighters get, I guess.”
“To give you perspective,” added Leo.
“Right,” Prue said, nodding. “Only, just for that one little bit of memory we had to erase. That’s when I knew I had to wait. Not that I haven’t spent a lot of time around the vision pool, making sure I didn’t miss it.” She smiled. “And so… that’s why. Why now. You proved that you could still live your lives, be the force for good you’re supposed to be, and not give into the temptation to change the future.”
“So that means we can summon you now?” asked Phoebe. Prue nodded.
“As long as it’s not for personal gain, right?” added Piper.
“Right.” Prue ran hand through her hair nervously. “I did have one question for you guys though.”
“What’s that?” asked Leo.
“What did you do with my old Nancy Drew books?”
“They’re, uh, around here somewhere, I think…” Piper glanced around at the corner of the attic where most boxes were stored.
Leo scratched him head. “I think I…” He began to set aside a few boxes of holiday decorations to reach an area deeper from the front. “Here. I organized all of Prue’s stuff into categories when I was going stir-crazy.”
“Right after you fell from grace?” asked Prue.
Leo nodded. “Ah, here it is…” He hefted the book-heavy box onto the nearest table. “Why do you want these, anyway?”
“Oh, I don’t want the books, per se,” she said as she dug through the stack of volumes. “Which, by the way, any of you want to pass these on to any future daughters, I’d be honored. But… here!” She pulled out a dusty copy of ‘The Clue in the Jewel Box.’ and handed it to Piper. “I want you to have this.”
Piper took the novel, obviously a little mystified. “Okay… but you know I was never into these when we were little. Not like you…”
Prue chuckled, shaking her head. “Not the book.” She nodded at the book. “You notice anything weird about it?”
Piper turned it over in her hands, flipping through the pages. “No… not –“ she stopped short as her hand thumb ran across the back cover’s inner lining and noticed a lump. She shot a look at Prue, who raised her eyebrows knowingly. After fiddling with the book’s lining she found the pocket that had been created years earlier and cautiously slipped a couple fingers inside.
As she withdrew the contents Prue smiled wistfully. “Before we erased our memories, I excused myself while you got Leo to dust us.”
Piper slid out the photos, only slightly weathered by the six years they’d spent forgotten in the book. “Oh, Prue…” she smiled ruefully. “I saw that you took them at the dinner table. And this is lovely, but, the danger to the timeline. It’s a little risky just to -“
Prue waved her off. “No. No. No damage to the timeline. One way or another, they weren’t around. But that’s not totally the point. Flip the one of me over.”
Piper did as told, as Phoebe and Paige crowded in behind her, and began to read. “To my sisters…” As all three read the note they reacted in their own ways. Piper smiled bitter sweetly, Phoebe rested her head on Piper’s shoulder, and Paige nodded as she read, studying her two living sisters for their response.
Piper blinked back her tears again. “Oh, Prue. I wish we had found this sooner…”
“Me too, sis,” she sighed. “But, now I not only believe in what I said there – I know it. I was there. What’s done is done. I just hope you can enjoy them now, anyway.”
“Oh, I know exactly which one is getting its own space on the stairwell, as soon as I can get it framed,” replied Piper. “And one other picture.”
Prue and her other two sisters looked at Piper quizzically. Paige was the first to figure it out and immediately called out. “Camera!” An expensive looking digital camera materialized into her hands a moment later.
Prue’s eyes lit up as she saw the device. “Oooh! Is this one of those new high-def models?”
Phoebe nodded. “Piper and I picked it up just before Paige and Henry’s wedding. I got the recommendation from the Mirror’s staff photographer. It’s the industry standard. Or so I’m told. You know I’ve never had a head for those things.”
Prue rubbed her hands together. “May I?”
“Of course!” replied Paige, handing it over.
Prue turned the camera around in her hands, examining it, before she turned it on and held it up, checking out the picture. “God, look at this!” She shook her head wistfully. “Okay, seeing you guys aside – now I know why the Elders don’t allow us to watch more closely. This thing makes my old digital camera look archaic! Being up there is like living the rest of your life, or afterlife anyway, in Amish country.” She smiled as she shut it off and looked back up. “Pretty soon I’m gonna be like Melinda Warren and thinking zippers are magic!”
Piper raised an eyebrow. “I hardly believe that. I’m sure if I handed you an iPhone you’d pick it up like that.”
Prue scrunched her nose. “A what-phone?”
“Now where did we hear that before?” Phoebe chuckled. “It’s just a fancy cell phone. Latest thing.”
“I think I see what you mean, though,” added Piper, her tone changing as the true implications of her sister, frozen in youth and time, in the afterlife would mean as the years progressed.
“Hey there,” said Prue, giving Piper’s shoulder a squeeze. “Like I said, I’ve accepted it. It’s not all bad… as long as you let me play with your Buck Rogers gadgets when I visit, anyway. I remember you weren’t so good at sharing when we were kids,” she finished with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.
“I still say you stole it,” rejoined Piper with a twinkle in her eye.
“Brat!” Prue elbowed her younger sister in the ribs at this. “So I’m assuming you’re wanting to finally take a real, complete, sister photo?”
Piper nodded and turned to her husband. “Leo, could you?”
Leo smiled warmly at this. “Of course.” The four sisters gravitated together, the attic’s stained glass window as a backdrop behind them. “Say cheese…”
“Charmed!” exclaimed all four in unison, and broke out laughing.
As the mirth died down Prue put her hands on her hips. “Well, I’m only allowed to be here until this time tomorrow, and we’ve got some serious catching up to do.” She turned to Phoebe, linking elbows with her little sister and tugging her to her side. “So how about we start by having you introduce me to this hunk back here. You’re Coop, right?”
He laughed. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a laugh. “I hope I meet with your approval – I know how protective older sisters can be.”
“Straight and to the point.” She narrowed her eyes. “I like that!” she added lightly.
“How about we go down to the living room and we can tell you everything. And maybe you can tell us about all those heaven-break attempts?” said Piper.
Prue nodded. “Sounds wonderful. Just please, tell me one thing…”
Piper shrugged, her mouth open as she wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Uh, sure... what?”
“Please tell me you’re still keeping the Manor well stocked in coffee – the stuff ‘up there’ just isn’t the same!”
Everyone shared a laugh this. “Are you kidding, Prue? I’m a mother of two, club owner, and Charmed One,” answered Piper. “I think more coffee than blood may be flowing through my veins these days!”
“Then that’s the second thing I’ve gotta do – right after I meet the two most adorable nephews ever!” She tugged Paige to her other side and they made their way for the door, following behind Piper. “So, little sis… are you a java fiend as well?”
Paige gave Prue a sidelong glance. “I’m a Halliwell, aren’t I?”
“Just making sure you haven’t been a warlock in disguise this whole time!” rejoined Prue with a smirk. “Now, tell me about this Henry. I’ve always had a thing for a guy with a badge…”
Patty and Penny Halliwell watched from the heavens as the voices of all four Halliwell sisters drifted down the hall, and lasted through the night, finally filling the Manor with all four sister’s voices as both women had always dreamed of.