This happens after the second episode of the third season.

Charmed for Life
By Sambrea

Prologue

Phoebe walked into the house and set down her bag by the floor.

“Prue, Piper are you guys home?”

She got no answer so she went to the kitchen to get a snack only to find a letter on the fridge.

Dear Phoebe and Prue,

I have decided after much deliberation to move out.  It has nothing to do with the two of you, I just feel that I need some time to decide a few things, mostly what to do now that Leo is gone.

Please don’t come looking for me.

I love both of you dearly.  I may return to the manor someday, but it holds too many memories for me right now.

Love,
Piper

++++++++++

Phoebe read through it a second time before setting it on the counter.

After a moment of thought, Phoebe walked quickly over to the phone and dialed Prue’s cell phone number.

“Come on Prue, answer it,” she said impatiently as it wrung a few times.

It was then that she noticed that the rings were echoing in the basement.

She hung up the phone and walked downstairs to where Prue had her photo studio.

She found Prue sitting down there with her head down on the table.

“Hey,” Phoebe said quietly.  “I take it you saw Piper’s letter?”

“Yes,” Prue said simply, turning away from the door.

“What do we do?”

Prue sighed and turned around.  “I’ve been thinking.  Piper was right; we should split up.  I should leave.  You can have the manor,” she said decisively.

“Prue, no.  We’ll be a lot weaker against demons if we go separate ways.”

“I know, but I’m hoping to have it change if all of us give up magic Phoebe.”

“Prue.”

“Phoebe STOP, ok?  Do you know what it’s like to lose a loved one to magic, do you?  No, how could you?  I lost Andy because of a demon and now Piper lost Leo because They didn’t want it.”

“And you blame me for it right?  Fine.  Go.  I might not know what it’s like right now, but I will when you’re gone because I’ll have lost two,” Phoebe said madly, storming up the stairs.  A moment later Prue heard the door slam shut as Phoebe left and sighed with frustration.

++++++++++

Phoebe drove aimlessly around town for an hour before finding herself at the police station.

She realized her unconsciousness had brought her there so she could talk to someone who would understand.

She found Darryl at his desk.

“Hey Darryl, can I talk to you?” she asked the man.

“Umm, sure Phoebe.  Do you want to talk privately?  Or can we talk out here?”

“Privately would be great.  Thank you.”

Darryl led the way through a side door and into an interrogation room.

“I think we’ll be fine in here,” he said, closing the door behind him and then sat down across the table from Phoebe.  “What’s on your mind?”

“Piper and Prue are moving out.  More than likely it’s for good.”

“Why?  I thought you guys were pretty close.”

“We were.  At least till last night.”

“What happened?”

“Piper and Leo were supposed to get married last night.”

“Why wasn’t I invited?” Darryl asked, trying to lighten the mood, but it didn’t work.

“It was supposed to be secret.  They didn’t want Piper and Leo to be together.  Somehow though, They found out and did something to Leo right before the ceremony started.  We still don’t know what They did to him.  Piper was devastated and left this afternoon asking us not to look for her.  Prue was planning to leave when I stormed out of our house.  They think it will stop the attacks… the hurt,” she laughed a little at the thought.  “I think just the opposite’s going to happen,” she said, wiping the tear that was threatening to fall away.

“Can’t you do anything to stop them leaving?”

Phoebe shook her head.  “I have no clue where Piper went and Prue blames me for everything that’s happened to us.  No, there’s nothing.”

“Phoebe, you know the police can’t protect you.”

“I know.  That’s not why I came to talk to you.  I just wanted a sympathetic ear I guess,” Phoebe said with a shrug.  “Besides, you have a right to know the change.”

Darryl sighed and put a hand on Phoebe’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry for your loss Phoebe.  If you need any help don’t hesitate to call me.”

“Thank you,” Phoebe said.

++++++++++

Prue and Piper didn’t leave her completely on her own she found out.  Piper told her assistant manager at P3 that she would be gone for a while and needed her to take over the management for a while and Prue gave Phoebe access to her bank account so Phoebe could take care of any expenses that came up.

Chapter 1

A month later, Phoebe found herself fighting for her life in the attic of the manor.

She was grasping the only thing she knew that the 20 demons could have come for in her arm: the Book of Shadows, and was trying to keep anything and everything between her and the advancing demons.

“Give it up witch or we’ll kill you,” one said with a snarl.

“I would die before I willingly give up the Book to the likes of you,” she had said as she continued backing up until she reached the wall.

“We’ve got her now,” one said.

It was then that she did the one thing they, or she, hadn’t counted on.  She used the one physical power she had at her disposal, levitation, and floated above the crowd of demons, making sure to kick a few heads on the way past them.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” one yelled out as she kicked him in the head.

“Oh shut up.  How fair is it to gang up on one person with twenty demons?” she asked rhetorically.

All her effort to get away didn’t help her much though, because as soon as she was down, they were on top of her.

When they found they couldn’t get the book away from her, one of them brought out a very simple solution: a sword.  He cut off one of her arm with it, which forced her to drop the book as she lost her grip on the big book.

Another demon snatched it up immediately as two demons grabbed her shoulders and forced her to the floor.

“We have what we came for bitch,” the one that had mangled her said sardonically.  “Now it’s time for some fun.”

Chapter 2

Kathryn poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table.  Then she realized something hadn’t seemed right when she had looked out the window.

She stood up and went back over.

“Good God what is that doing here?” she asked.

++++++++++

It was fifteen minutes before Kathryn, Chakotay, Quinn and Wade walked over to the newly arrived house.

What they found was a disaster.

The door was missing when they reached the entrance.

“Wade, go get a medical kit from the house, will you?” Kathryn said as they entered the house, predicting a problem.

There were bits and pieces of glass covering the floor and all kinds of broken furniture strewn about.

“Good lord what the hell happened?” Quinn asked.

They carefully walked into the front room only to find more destruction of nearly everything in the room.

“I wonder if there’s anyone alive here,” Chakotay said quietly.

Quinn bent over to pick up a broken frame that had been thrown to the floor.

“Well it looks like three people live or lived here,” he said, handing a picture of Prue, Piper and Phoebe to Kathryn.

“Let’s split up and search for them,” Kathryn suggested, setting the frame gently on a nearby table that had been broken in half.

“We’ll start at the top and work our way down,” Quinn said, heading up to stairs he had noticed in the hall followed by Wade, who had run back in, two kits in hand, and handed one to Kathryn.

“This house must have been beautiful before it was utterly destroyed,” Wade said with a shake of her head.

“Yeah,” Quinn agreed.

They reached the top of the stairs a few seconds later and after a moment’s hesitation, walked through the doorway at the top of the second set.

Wade was the first to notice the soft sound of sobbing coming from one corner and quietly headed there.

What she found made her gasp and after a moment Quinn echoed the sound.

“Go get Kathryn,” she told Quinn quietly.

“Right,” he said, quietly leaving the attic.

What she saw not only scared her but stunned her.

Curled up in a fetal position was a young woman whose arm were missing, lying not far from where she was curled up.

Wade glanced around quickly, searching for something she could cover the arm up with or set them in.  She noticed a trunk sitting under one of the windows.  She went over to it and opened the top, looking for a blanket or something.  She found a quilt on top and quickly lifted it out.

She wrapped the arm in it and was about to find someplace out of the way for them when she heard a voice.

“That’s a family heirloom, so do you mind finding something else to wrap them in?” came a frightened voice.

“Hi,” Wade said, putting the arm in a corner, and coming over to kneel next to the woman.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Wade.  What’s your name, and what happened to you?”

“I’m Phoebe Halliwell.  I was...attacked last night,” Phoebe said sheepishly.  “They cut off my arm... and then decided to have some fun, to put it lightly,” she said, wiping her tear-filled cheeks on her shirt.

 “Why were you attacked?”

Phoebe was quiet for a long moment.  “I... can’t tell you that.  It’s something to do with my family.”

It was then that Quinn and Kathryn quietly entered the attic.  There was a slight hesitation before Kathryn knelt down next to Wade with Quinn right behind her.

“I’m Kathryn,” she said quietly.  “Is there anyone else who lives here with you?”

“I’m Phoebe, and no.  My sisters both left a month ago, leaving me alone here.  How did you guys get in here?”

“Your front door was off its hinges.  That’s how we knew there was something wrong,” Wade answered.

“Can you walk?” Kathryn asked.  “I think you should see something before we get any farther.”

“I think so.”

 “Come look out the window,” Kathryn said.

Phoebe’s eyes widened when she did.

“Where am I?  And what happened to San Francisco?”

“Well...  It’s not so much where San Francisco is, but more of where you are.  For the most part, I’m just known as Kathryn, but my title for five years was Captain Kathryn Janeway of USS Voyager.  You are on Luna, a planet about five years away from Earth.  We actually have a lot of what you could call ‘misplaced’ people here, including Wade and Quinn.

“To get more specific, you’re on the Second Chances ranch.  Only six of us here are from this dimension; everyone else is from other places.  I’ve got a question for you.  Why aren’t you bleeding all over the floor?”

Phoebe was quiet for a long minute, trying to figure out how to get around telling the three she was a witch.

“Look, whatever it is, you can’t surprise us.  Between Quinn and I, we’ve seen things you can’t imagine, and on top of that, we have some strange people living here right now.”

Phoebe sighed.  “I... I’m a witch.  One of the Charmed Ones.”

“A witch?  A real life witch?” Quinn asked.

“Yes, a real life witch; the kind that has been hunted and ridiculed for years.  Complete with powers.

“I am the youngest of three sisters and all three of us are witches.  About a month ago, the middle sister in my family, Piper was supposed to marry our white-lighter Leo.  I won’t get into details but it went bad to say the least.  Piper left the next morning, and Prue, my other sister left that afternoon.  I don’t have any clue where they went, but leaving only one of us, and on top of that leaving the person who had the least offensive powers of the three of us with not only the manor, but also the Book of Shadows, our spell book.

“Well last night, it finally happened.  About twenty demons stormed in here and attacked me.  After one of them cut off my arm, another healed me so that I would know exactly what they were doing to me.”

“How horrible!” Wade commented.

“Yeah, it was a preverse twist of what our white-lighter has been able to do.”

“What’s a white-lighter?” Kathryn asked.

“They’re like guardian angels for witches.  We’ve known ours for three years.  Unfortunately, he seems to have completely forgotten me AND the Book of Shadows.”

Just then, there was a twinkling sound and Leo arrived.

“Great timing Leo.  Is there any chance you can arrive ANY LATER?”

“I’m sorry Phoebe,” he said, with a nod to the surprised watchers.  “The Book is safely in the hands of another group of witches and the loss of your arm is unfortunate but because demons healed you, I can’t do anything for you.”

“Crap.”

“Umm, excuse me for a moment, but who the heck are you?” Wade asked.

Phoebe sighed. “Leo, meet Kathryn, Quinn, and Wade.  Guys, meet my white-lighter Leo.”

“Nice to meet you,” Leo said, shaking hands with all three of them.

“What about my sisters?”

“Piper and Prue are back on Earth.  They are still separated and I haven’t spoken to either of them yet, and in fact, I don’t think They would like that too much.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not supposed to speak to either of them.  They gave me permission to talk to you because They moved you.”

“How long am I going to be here?”

“I don’t know.  Neither do They.”

“Could you go talk to Darryl for me?  Explain what happened to me and not to be worried?”

“Sure.  If I get in contact with your sisters, do you want me to give them a note?”

“That would be wonderful.  Just tell them I love them all right?”

“Of course.  I’ll come visit you once in a while all right?” he said, giving Phoebe a quick hug.

“That would be great.  Hey, try to convince Prue and Piper to come back to the manor, all right?”

“I’ll talk to them.  I can’t promise anything though.”

“I know.  That’s all I ask.”

“I’ve got to go.  It was nice meeting you all,” Leo said before orbing out.

“You seem awfully calm for someone who was just brutally attacked,” Kathryn commented.

“As horrible as this is going to sound to you, it’s a hazard of my family’s lifestyle.  We’ve all come extremely close to dying.  In fact, if it wasn’t for Leo she would have been dead, but They cut his wings and he was forced to live with us for a few months.”

“And this is the guy that was your sister’s fiancée?”

“Good guess,” Phoebe said, surprised.  “And yes, he was, or is, depending on you look at it.”

“I’d like to have one of our doctor’s take a look at you, just to make sure you’re all right.”

“Umm, sure.”

Chapter 3

She was back on the ranch early that evening, after being taken to Memory for the Doctor to look at her.

She had been impregnated the previous night, so she immediately asked for the pregnancy to be aborted and after hearing her reason the Doctor complied; she was also fitted with a prosthetic arm, which took a little bit to get used to, but just soon became like a regular arm.

 “Something I’ve wanted to ask, but haven’t yet, is why didn’t you flee the manor once you knew the attack was going to happen?”

Phoebe snorted.  “I never even considered it.  One of our major missions as witches is to protect innocents.  That means anyone who isn’t a witch, a warlock, a demon, a white-lighter or a dark-lighter,” Phoebe said as Kathryn took the broom from her and she floated to the floor.

She followed Kahryn into the kitchen when there was a knock at the door.

“It’s open,” Phoebe yelled out.

“Hey,” Wade said.  “There’s a person to see you Phoebe.”

“Who?”

“Umm, the person wants you to come see.  Out on the porch.”

Phoebe looked confused for a moment, trying to think of who it might be.

“You want me to tell you who it is?”

“Umm, sure.”

“Darryl?  Does that name ring bell?”

Phoebe smiled.  “Of course it does.  He’s like the only person that we talk to on a regular basis that knows we’re witches.  You want to come meet him, Kathryn?”

“Sure.”

Phoebe led the way out the front door, to where Darryl was sitting on the front porch.

“Hi Darryl,” Phoebe said as she walked out the door.

“Hey, Phoebe.  Leo wasn’t kidding when he said you had lost your arm, was he?”

“Umm, considering I have no clue what he told you, I guess so,” she said as he gave her a hug.  “This is Kathryn, and I guess you’ve already met Wade.”

Darryl shook Kathryn’s hand and they headed into the living room of the manor.

“There was quite an uproar when the manor disappeared,” he said, taking a newspaper clipping out of his coat pocket.  “The tabloids had a field day.”

“I can imagine,” Phoebe said, taking the newspaper from him.

“You’ve gotten used to losing your arm pretty fast,” he commented as Phoebe handed the clipping to Kathryn, who had been looking over her shoulder at it.  “Have you heard anything from your sisters?”

“No, unfortunately.  I asked Leo to try and find them for me, but there’s no way for me to know if he’s had any luck, or even if they want to see me.”

“Why not?”

“They were trying to cut all ties with not only me and the house, but also each other when they left.  It’d be great to see them, but I don’t know if I ever will again.  How long can you stay?”

“A couple of hours.  My wife thinks I’m at work, and the people at work think I’m at home.”

“What if one of them calls the other?” Phoebe pointed out.

“Then I’ll be in trouble.  But I’ve never been called at home from someone at work, and my wife doesn’t tend to call me at work.”

“How do you know Phoebe?” Kathryn asked.

“That’s a little complicated.  I’m a detective for the San Francisco police department.  My partner was drawn to the Halliwells for their links to a lot of cases.  After he died in the manor, I found out that the Halliwells were witches.”

“He’s been a great source of information and support ever since.”

“They even saved my life once.”

“Yeah, and if you had listened to Prue in the first place and not gone in that alley, we wouldn’t have had to,” Phoebe pointed out, rolling her eyes.

“True,” Darryl admitted.

“Would you like a tour of the ranch Darryl?” Kathryn asked after a moment of silence.

“Sure.”

++++++++++

Darryl spent a couple of hours at the ranch that afternoon, eating dinner with them and meeting everyone who lived there, including all the non-humans that lived there, which Darryl surprisingly taking it all in stride.

At one point, Chakotay commented on that.

“Since I’ve been working with the Halliwells, I’ve found that not a whole lot takes me by surprise anymore, even having dinner with aliens,” he said with a laugh.

“I’m not even going to ask what you’ve seen that would get you that way,” Be’lanna said.

By the time Leo arrived to pick him up, things had settled down enough that everyone was out on the porch of the main house when he orbed in.

“Hey Leo,” Phoebe said when he arrived.  “Come on over for a moment will you?”

Leo looked a little confused but complied.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I just wanted to introduce you to everyone and ask you about my sisters.”

She quickly introduced him to the rest of the people he hadn’t met on his last, short visit.

“Well, as to your sisters, I haven’t had any luck finding them yet.  I was hoping that hearing about what happened to the manor would bring them out of hiding, but no such luck and I’m not the only person who wants to find them.  They told me that if I am able to find them and convince them to join you on Luna, they want to give you guys the book back.  But that will only work if I can find both Prue and Piper AND convince them to reunite with you, and that might take quite a while.  I’ll keep looking though.”

“Thanks anyways.”

Chapter 4

It was early one morning when Phoebe was drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen of the manor with one foot holding it, and reading a copy of the paper she had used the replicator to get, the date it would have been in her time and the one she had sometimes read when she had had the time: The San Francisco Post when the doorbell wrang.

Author’s note: I just made the name up.  I have no clue if there is such a thing as the San Francisco post.

“Door’s open,” she called out.

A moment later, the doorbell rang again.

“Can’t a person open his own door?” Phoebe muttered as she put down the cup of coffee and went into the front hallway.  “It’s not like I lock that thing.”

She opened the door and came face to face with Piper just as she was about to say something bad.

“Piper?!” she yelled, just before Piper enveloped her in a hug.

Piper just held her for a moment before letting go.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said.

“Yeah, you too,” Phoebe said.  “I take it Leo finally found you.”

“Actually, it was Darryl.  I guess they’ve been working together to find us and Darryl finally got a hold of me and told me what happened.”

“Where were you living?”

“In all reality I never left San Francisco.  I was staying in a hotel when Darryl found me.”

“Any clue about Prue?”

“I’m really sorry but no.  I was pretty surprised to hear that she had also left.”

“Are you here for only a visit or for good?”

“For good,” Piper answered, putting her duffel bag on the floor of the front hall and following Phoebe into the kitchen.

“You want a cup of coffee?”

“Sure.”

Phoebe put it together quickly, handed it to Piper, took her own from the counter, and they sat down.

“How did everyone here deal with the fact that you’re a witch?”

“Surprisingly well.  No one minds here.  There are others with strange powers here other than just me.  Four kids here can change into animals when they want to.  Four people came here by sliding from Earth to Earth.  Being a witch isn’t all that surprising; I guess would be a good word.  I take it Leo gave you a lift out here.”

“Yeah, I was really happy to see him, but he couldn’t stay.  They wouldn’t allow him.”

There was a knock at the door then.

“It’s open,” Phoebe called out.

“Morning,” Wade said, walking into the kitchen and stopped when she saw Piper.

“Okay, you get too many visitors,” she said as she sat down across from them.

“Wade, meet my sister Piper, Piper meet Wade.”

“Nice to meet you,” Piper said, shaking Wade’s hand.

“Same here.  Are you here for a visit?”

“Uh no. I was thinking of moving back to the manor, no matter its new setting.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’ve had a lot of time to think over the last couple of months and even before Darryl found me.  And after I heard about the manor I had even considered trying to get a hold of Leo or Darryl.  But before I could decide to do so, Darryl contacted me.”

“Let me go let Kathryn know that you arrived,” Wade said, standing up.  “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

“Did Darryl or Leo tell you about the Book?” Phoebe asked when Wade had left.

“A little.  Darryl said it had been taken.”

“Yeah, it was, but there is more to it than that.  Leo told me that it had been recovered and if he or Darryl can find Prue, they’re going to give it back to us.”

“That would be nice.  How many people live here?”

“Uhh, twenty.”

“Twenty?!”

Phoebe laughed at the look on Piper’s face.  “It’s not as bad as it sounds.  I’m still the only one living in the manor, and everyone else is spread out among three houses.  Everyone gets along with everyone else and helps out as much as they can.”

“Including you?”

“Sure.  I can do a lot more than you might think, I get some help around the house a couple days a week to do chores, help feed the horses, and eat dinner with everyone every night.  Thankfully, the only thing I have to cook is a pot of coffee every morning for myself, otherwise I think that would change,” Phoebe said with a smile.

Piper snorted.  “Yeah, no kidding.  I’ve seen you cook.”

Phoebe stuck her tongue out at Piper, and Piper did the same.

“So what are you reading?”

“Today’s paper,” Phoebe said, sliding over what she hadn’t been reading.

They were silent for another couple of minutes before there was a knock at the front door.

“It’s open,” Phoebe called out.

“Morning,” Kathryn said, walking into the kitchen.  “Wade told me you had a visitor.”

“I’m Piper Halliwell.  Nice to meet you,” Piper said, shaking Kathryn’s hand.

“Kathryn Janeway.  You must be one of Phoebe’s sisters.”

“Right.  I’m the middle sister.”

“Nice to finally meet you.  Are you just visiting, or are you here for good?”

“If you don’t mind, I’m here for good.”

“I don’t mind at all.  We always welcome people to the ranch.  Especially if they have ties to other people or are family of other people.  Has Phoebe told you anything about how we live here, or how we got here?”

“Not a lot.  Of course, I just got here.”

“Did you want to get settled in first or would you like a tour of the ranch?”

“I think I’d rather get all my stuff into my room and see how much damage Phoebe did to it before I take a tour of the ranch.”

“If you guys want to, come find me when you’re done,” Kathryn said before leaving the manor.

“She likes to boss people around doesn’t she,” Piper nodded when Kathryn was gone.

“She’s not as bad as she might seem,” Phoebe said.  “She used to be the captain of the starship that founded this colony.”

“Starship?” Piper asked as she picked up her bag from the hallway and went up the stairs.

“Um, maybe Kathryn ought to tell you about that.  She along with her husband Chakotay used to command the Starship Voyager before they were forced to land here.  They, along with another couple, run this ranch, which they eventually named Second Beginnings Ranch because so many of the people who live here aren’t from this timeline or from this reality.  Oh, and don’t be surprised to see a few people who don’t look human.  They probably aren’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because there are aliens living here.  They’re not in the majority but they are living here on the ranch.”

“Okay, that’s going to take some getting used to,” Piper admitted as they entered her room.

“I tried to recreate it as best I could after it was destroyed in the fight with the demons.  You do know what happened, I hope.”

“Pretty much.  Darryl gave me the gist, and Leo filled in the rest,” Piper said as she set down the bag on the bed.  “You did pretty well actually.  I can’t think of anything that isn’t here.”

“I had a lot of help.  There are people who make furniture here on Luna and were able to repair the damage done to a lot of the pieces and everything else that they weren’t able to repair, they were able to reproduce.”

“That’s great.  What about all the clothes I left here?”

“Well, considering I had put all of it into the attic, except for the ones I wanted for myself, there wasn’t any damage done to them.”

“Why did you put them in storage?”

“I didn’t know if you’d ever come back to the manor, and if you didn’t, they would get all dusty and stuff so I figured it’d be better to stick them into a box and put them in the attic.  After the attack, I asked Kathryn to help me bring them down and put them back in their rightful spots once I found out that Leo was looking for you.  I figured that at least that would make it feel like home again.  It sort of worked, but not completely.  I still was missing my sisters to make it fully feel like home again.”

“Well, at least now it can partially feel like home, even if Prue isn’t here,” Piper said, sitting down next to Phoebe and putting an arm around her shoulders.

“I am so glad you are here,” Phoebe said, leaning her head on Piper’s shoulder.

“So am I.  I feel so bad about deserting you and Prue, though what Prue did is almost worst because she is the one who really deserted.  She didn’t have to leave, while on the other hand, I felt like I did.  What exactly happened to you?  Leo wouldn’t go into details and Darryl didn’t really know.”

“Well, about a month ago, during that really stormy night, I suddenly had this premonition of the house being wrecked.

“For obvious reasons I couldn’t flee the house, though everyone has asked me why I didn’t.    I went to the attic to wait with a couple of candles and flashlights in case the lights went out.

“A couple of hours later, exactly that happened.  I was searching through the book for a spell that might give me an edge in the fight when the lights went out.

“I lit the candles and turned on a flashlight just before the fight started.  I could hear them kick down the door downstairs and start smashing things so I quickly blew out the candles so they wouldn’t be knocked over in the fight and start a fire, turned on the rest of the flashlights I had brought with me and secured them around the room so that it was well lit and locked the attic door from the inside to give me more time.

“I had found luck in one spell that gave a person the ability to see in the dark and only required a chant and not any supplies which I was glad for.

“I quickly invoked it and shut off all the flashlights.  A minute later, the whole lot of demons stormed the attic.

“One found one of the flashlights and turned it on and that’s when the battle began.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.  I levitated over them once, kicked a few heads on the way, and they were all over me.

“I had no interest in giving them the Book so they cut off my arm.  Before I could faint from the pain one of them healed me so that I would be completely awake for what was to come.

“I almost fainted with what came next.  One by one, each of them took their turn with me while two others held me down.”

“Oh Pheebs,” Piper said, hugging her tighter.  “I’m so sorry.  If I had known…”

“Piper, don’t start second guessing that decision.  That’s why they say hindsight is 20/20 which is completely true.  I don’t blame you for leaving.  I don’t even blame Prue for leaving.  It was something the two of you had to do.  Now, whether it was the right thing to do or not we could debate for the next year.  Not only is that not the way I would like to spend my time, but I’m sure the people here on the ranch wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“Wow.  I was sure you would be madder than this.  Especially after your reaction when I was gone with Leo for a month.

“That was quite a bit different.  For one thing, you had no idea how long you were gone then.  You decided you needed to leave the manor and I respect that.  It isn’t your fault I was attacked; it was just a minor thing none of us considered at the time.”

“Minor?  I don’t consider being attacked, losing your arm, and being raped minor.  Quite the opposite in fact.”

“I’ve come to terms with what happened Piper.  I don’t… like it any more than you do, but it is the way it is and there is nothing I can do about it.”

“You’re taking this very well.”

“Piper, if you really must know, I spent the whole night after the attack in the attic, in tears.  The next night, I cried myself to sleep.”

“Phoebe…”

Piper, I’m past it.  I’m past feeling sorry for myself.  I’m past being mad at you and Prue for leaving.  I’m past all of that.  How hard is it for you to do the same?”

Piper stared at her for a moment before sighing.  “Well considering I just found out the full story…  I guess I can right away, for your sake.  But Phoebe, I wasn’t about to chew you out or anything like that.  Why didn’t you ask anyone for help or for someone to listen to you?  You told me yourself that there were people here from several different backgrounds.  Why didn’t you talk to one of them about what you were feeling?  I’m sure one of them would have understood.”

“It just didn’t feel right to go to them for help.  They were taking me into their home and accepting me as one of them.”

“I guess I can understand that,” Piper said with a sigh.  “I still think it would have been better for you if you had at least tried.  Why don’t I finish unpacking and then you can show me around.”

++++++++++

That evening, they all were sitting on the porch of the main house talking when Leo orbed in, Book of Shadows in hand and an unhappy look on his face.

He walked onto the porch, where Piper took the book from him.

“Darryl found Prue,” he said softly.  “She’s alive, but that’s about all I can say for her.  She was involved in a tragic car accident where another person, her, umm, fiancée was killed.”

“Fiancée?  Prue has a fiancée?  But she’s only been gone for a couple of months!”

“I can only guess he was someone Prue knew before she left; someone from high school maybe?  I don’t know the specifics of who he was; all I know is that she was hurt really badly.  She’s pregnant and came VERY close to losing the baby.  She’s in a coma, had both her legs broken, and broke some ribs.   I haven’t gone to see her yet, but Darryl has.  I can take the two of you to see her…”

“I shouldn‘t go,” Phoebe said immediately.

“What?!  Why?” Piper asked.

“Prue doesn’t know I lost my arm.  It’s going to be a surprise just to see you there.  Let’s not give her too much of a surprise.”

“Before you go visit her on Earth, can I make a suggestion?”  Kathryn interrupted.

“Of course,” Phoebe said.

“Bring Prue here.  Our doctor can do more than any doctor can on your Earth.”

“It wouldn’t be that hard to do,” Leo said after a moment of thought.  “It’s not likely that anyone would come to visit her.  I can get her here tonight.”

“How’s Darryl doing?  Has he had any troubles with police because of his association with us?” Phoebe asked.

“Not that I know of.  Why?”

“Well, I was thinking that if he feels he’s going to be in trouble because of that, he and his wife could come live here.  If you don’t mind of course,” she added to Kathryn and everyone else.

“Of course not.  The more the merrier,” Kathryn said with a smile.  “Let me go give Memory a call and let them know you’re going to bring Prue over.”

“It’s going to take me at least an hour,” Leo admitted.

“Why don’t I come with you Leo,” Piper said.  “I can give you a hand.”

“Sure.  We’ll bring her here as soon as possible,” Leo said as Piper put down the Book of Shadows and put her arm around Leo’s neck.

“I’ll try to get this done as quickly as possible,” Leo said right before orbing out.

“What did Leo bring you guys?” Kathryn asked, picking up the book.

“That is the Book of Shadows.  The symbol on the front is the triquetra, which represents the power of three.  You can look through it if you want.  I’m not sure about saying any of incantations in there though because I’m not sure if that will start something or not and I’d rather not take a chance on it.”

Chapter 5

Prue groaned with the large headache that had woken her up.

She put her hand to her forehead before opening her eyes.

Expecting to see the ceiling of the room she and Brian shared, she was surprised to see an unfamiliar ceiling.

She took a look around, and was surprised to see someone she recognized sitting in a chair next to the bed obviously not having a whole lot of luck trying to sleep.

“Piper?” she asked quietly, surprised to see her sister.

“Hey, you’re awake,” Piper said, opening her eyes immediately and pushing her chair closer to the bed.

“What are you doing here, and where are we?”

“First of all, what do you remember last?”

Prue thought for a moment before answering.  “I was driving along with my fiancée and that’s it.”

“Your car flipped.  Your fiancée was killed instantly, Prue, and you’ve been in a coma for the last couple days.”

“Then how come I’m not?”

“Leo and Darryl have been working together to find you and me, or at least they were.  Did you hear about the manor disappearing?”

“Yeah, I did.  What happened?”

“They decided to put Phoebe and the manor under better protection after she was attacked about a month after we left by a group of demons.  They cut off both her arm as she was trying to protect the Book of Shadows.

“From what Phoebe told me, they raped her, took the book, and wrecked the house.  That night They brought her here, which is not on Earth.  Leo came by that morning to explain to her exactly what was going on.  He promised to look for you, and me, which Darryl eventually joined.  I actually arrived here yesterday morning and Darryl located you yesterday evening.  After Leo came and told us he had found you, he and I went over to Earth and basically we, uhh, basically kidnapped you out of your hospital room.”

“You kidnapped me?”

“Basically.  Look, we didn’t know what else to do.  It was either kidnap you or find some other way to get in contact with you, and Kathryn, who you’ll meet later, suggested that it would be easier to bring you here, where the medical facilities are of a higher caliber than anything on Earth.”

“Ok.  So where is here?”

“Well, Luna is a kind of the way of everything else.  From what little I actually understand…”

 
++++++++++

It was another day before Piper returned to the ranch and manor with Prue and within a few days, she and Piper were used to life very much different from what they had had on Earth.

The End

Author’s note:  I know I said I was finished, but oh well.  Not only am I not done, but I have big plans for it still!!!!