Title: Always In My Heart
By: Bridget McKennitt
Character: Phoebe Halliwell
Rating: G
Word Count: 2282
Summary: When a spell cast in 2002 backfires, an eight year old Phoebe is set upon a path that leads her down a road to love, life, and destiny.
Contains: No warnings in as far I know that can't be extrapolated from the header itself.
Disclaimer: Charmed is owned by other companies. They are used here without permission, and for entertainment purposes only. No challenge or infringement upon the copyright is intended, nor should any be inferred.
Little Phoebe, recently turned ten years old, giggled and ran up
the stairwell. She had taken the last cookie from the cookie jar, right
before Prue could take it. Now her older sister was mad but Phoebe did not
care. It was only Prue, after all.
She crouched behind the rail, waiting for her sister to burst in.
Suddenly she felt a pull on her and she began to waver. "Hey!" With a puff
of smoke, she was gone.
When the smoke cleared, Phoebe stood in the attic with an old
lady and a younger lady. Who were these people? How did she get there?
Phoebe was a brave young girl but Grams had warn her about strangers. The
bad people. She had to escape.
"Oh my god, what have you done?" cried the old lady.
The young lady blinked in surprised. "Me? Who--who are you?"
The elderly lady lifted her chin. "What's the matter? Don't you
recognize me? I'm you. Phoebe."
Little Phoebe gasped. "Phoebe? That's my name, too." The fact that
these ladies shared her name made her curious. But that soon passed. "Who
are you people? And how did I get up here?"
The lady turned towards her and smiled. "You don't have to be
scared of us, honey. Everything's gonna be okay."
Little Phoebe however did not believe that. She ran towards the
window hoping to climb down that way. Before she could get out though,
the young lady pulled her back in.
"Sweetie, hi, come here. Hi, I can explain. You are dreaming."
"Dreaming?" said the other woman who stood by the doorway.
The lady called Phoebe nodded. "Yes, dreaming. And you're gonna
wake up in your room and everything's gonna be fine."
Little Phoebe made a face and rolled her eyes. "I'm ten. I'm
not stupid. Grams!" She pushed past the lady and ran downstairs. Grams
had to be around here. So where was Grams? Phoebe ran all over the house,
she knew this was her house, but could not find her grandmother.
The other woman started to call her name and little Phoebe ran
behind a plant, singing loudly, and pretending not to hear the woman.
"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream..."
"Honey, you have to listen to me."
"Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!"
"We're just trying to help."
Little Phoebe closed her eyes and repeated the song even louder.
She opened one eye to see the Phoebe lady coming close to her. "Stay
away from me or I'll sic Prue on you." That threat always worked on the
kids at school whenever they teased her. Prue was a scary sister to have.
"Oh yeah, don't go there," said the other woman.
"Phoebe, listen to me. I know that this is scary but I promise
you, you are safe here in this house. In your house. Our house. You know
how Grams talks about magic all the time? And she likes to say anything's
possible as long as you believe in it?"
How could this lady know that? "Yes," she said slowly.
"Well, that's what happened. Magic brought you here, to your
future. See that girl over there? That is Piper all grown up." Little
Phoebe could not believe the lady's words. That was her other big sister?
She stopped being a dork! "Yeah! And that is her husband, Leo. Mmm hmm.
And I am..."
Little Phoebe's mind raced to the natural conclusion. "Me?"
"Yeah. I wanna show you something." The lady held up her special
photo album. "Do you remember this? Daddy sent it to you and me for
Christmas."
"My album!"
"Yeah, except it starts with pictures of you and it goes all the
way back here to pictures of me. Why don't you go take it over there and
look at it?" She took the album and sat on the couch to stare over the
pictures. It was so amazing! She was only ten but she was looking at
herself when she was much older. Little Phoebe was so happy. She grew
up to be a very beautiful lady, like Grams always said how Phoebe's mommy
was.
Suddenly a very handsome man walked in and little Phoebe was
stunned. "Oh my gosh. Who are you?"
"Sorry?" he said.
Big Phoebe smiled and leaned near little Phoebe. "That guy is
Cole. He's our fiance." She said the words with love and tenderness.
That made little Phoebe even more stunned. "Wait, you mean he's
our prince? The one who sweeps us off our feet?"
Big Piper laughed but little Phoebe ignored her. She did not
like that Piper told her older self that she was the reason to make her
reconsider having children. So she did what came natural, she stared at
Cole dreamily.
Her older self glanced at big Piper. "She's talking about
Cinderella. That was my favorite story when I was growing up. I can't
believe that I forgot about that." Big Phoebe turned to her after talking
with the grown ups. "We'll be right back." She looked at Cole. "Uh, keep
her company will you?" Her older self kissed him on the cheek and left
with the others.
At last, her Prince Charming all to herself. She smiled some
more when he told her hi. If this was the future, then she could not wait
to become a lady. Cole was so handsome. Suddenly a man shimmered into the
living room and little Phoebe began to scream. It was too much for the
young girl and she fainted.
When she woke up, there was big Phoebe's concerned face. "Are
you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think so." She looked at Cole. "You saved me." She
sat up on the couch and began telling what happened. "It was so scary.
He just came out of nowhere. And then everything went black."
Another lady handed her a glass of water. "Here you go,
sweetheart."
"Thanks." She took a sip of water. "Who are you?"
The lady looked surprised. "Me? I'm Paige, your--"
Big Phoebe cut in. "Cousin. She's our cousin from mom's side."
"But we think of her as a sister," said Piper.
Big Phoebe nodded. "We'll explain it to you when you're older."
It was strange but she almost immediately liked this cousin
named Paige. She had never seen her before in her ten years of living
but maybe she visited her when she was older. When she got back home,
she would ask Grams if cousin Paige would visit them much earlier. Then
a question struck her. "What about that scary man? Where'd he go?"
"You don't have to worry about him anymore, sweetie," her older
self said.
"Doesn't she?" Leo asked.
"Leo," Piper warned.
But Leo would not back down from her older sister. "I'm sorry,
but we can't risk her running into Kurzon again. She's Phoebe's past."
"And Cole saving her means that he saved me, too." Her older
self stared lovingly at Cole.
"Hello! He loves us, remember?" she reminded her older self.
Not to mention that she was falling in love with Cole as well.
"I think I should take little Phoebe someplace, someplace
safe," Leo said.
"Do you really think Kurzon will come back?" Paige asked.
Cole spoke up. "I do. I mean, why wouldn't he? He didn't
fulfill his objectives."
Big Phoebe nodded. "He's right." She looked at her younger
self. "Okay, you're gonna have to go with Leo for a little while, but
don't worry. He'll keep you safe."
She pouted. "I don't wanna leave."
"I know, but it's just for a little while, okay? It's for your
own good. Come on," big Phoebe reassured her.
Leo stood up and held out his hand. "Come on, take my hand."
Little Phoebe walked over to him and did so. "Now hold on tight."
"Are we going on a plane?" she asked timidly.
"No, but you might see some clouds." His and her body were
surrounded by tiny white lights and the room disappeared. The place they
went was wonderful even if a little fuzzy. She remembered feeling safe
and warm and loved.
Then Leo orbed them back down and the sight she found horrified
her. It was her much older self dead on the floor. The image haunted her.
Was that her fate? Find love but die so brutally? As she stared at the
corpse, she faded away back into her own time. Once more she was crouched
behind the rail of the stairs. Phoebe blinked. Was that all a dream? No,
it could not be. A man as wonderful and as handsome as Cole could not just
exist in her mind.
Prue ran into the living room and spotted Phoebe. "Phoebe! I
wanted that last cookie. As the oldest, I should have gotten it. Phoebe,
are you even listening to me?"
"No," she said as she stood up. The death scene was pushed to
the back of her mind as she focused on her brave Cole. "Something really
great happened to me and not even your sour puss can bring me down."
Her sister's eyes began to water but it did not phase Phoebe.
Prue had been doing that for years whenever she or Piper would not pretend
that Prue was their mother. Then Prue would give a little speech. "Why
do you act that way, Phoebe? You know I try my hardest to raise you and
Piper. It would help if you stopped being such a screw up."
She flinched at that last remark. Just because Prue was a teenager
and she was a little girl. "You're not my mom!" Phoebe cried out and ran
upstairs. An image of Cole smiling flashed in her mind and she clung to
it fiercely. No matter what Prue did, she could never take away her Prince
Charming.
"Phoebe, what's wrong?" Phoebe looked up to see her Grams. Her
Grams was a wise woman and she was dying to tell someone about what
had happened.
"Grams, I went to the future!"
Penelope raised her eyebrow and knelt down so her eyes met her
granddaughter's. "You have a very active imagination--"
"But it's true! I went to the future and met my fiance. And I
had magic! So did Piper."
Grams stilled at Phoebe's words. Could she have really gone to
the future? When Phoebe was still in Patty's womb, her three grown
granddaughters had came to their time, with their magic unbound and their
destiny revealed. So it could happen. But her little Phoebe had no magic.
Then Penelope knew. Magic had brought Phoebe forward through time.
However, time fluctuated with every action made. Phoebe knowing
what was in store for her in the future could be fatal to the Charmed
Ones' destiny. There was only one thing she could do.
"Grams, don't you believe me?" Phoebe looked at her with innocent
eyes.
"I'm sorry, Phoebe." She stroked Phoebe's cheek as she recited
a spell. "What the mind has learned, the mind shall forget. Memories fade
with no regret."
Phoebe's eyes blurred for a moment as the spell washed over her.
"What did you say, Grams?"
Grams smiled sadly and Phoebe did not know why. "I'm sorry Prue
yelled at you. I will talk to her, okay?"
"Okay!" Phoebe kissed her grandmother on the cheek and was about
to run off when a strange feeling came over her. It felt like she wanted
to remember something but the memory eluded her. She shrugged it off for
another day...but little did Phoebe or even Grams know that the eventful
time travel was not completely erased from Phoebe. Her mind may have lost
the memories but her heart could never forget about magic, or her Prince
Charming.
***
Years Later
Phoebe crossed her arms in concern as she talked with Prue and
Darryl at a crime scene. Things were already a mess with Piper screwing
Leo in the clouds, leaving them to do both her normal job and her Wiccan
duty.
Her mind began to wander. From day one of moving back to San
Francisco and into the manor, Phoebe had become a witch with her sisters.
The Charmed Ones. It was strange that Prue and Piper shied away from their
magic while Phoebe embraced it. Though she had the gift of premonitions,
she fell into her heritage easily and smoothly like she had been exposed
to magic before. That was impossible though because her powers were bound
almost as soon as she was born.
Prue stared at Emilio. "What is he smiling at anyway? It's not
like he has his guardian demon to protect him anymore."
"Yeah, and unfortunately our guardian angel is nowhere to be found."
She looked up. "We sure could use some cosmic help right now. What are
we supposed to do? We've never been in this situation before."
"You better decide fast. Here comes the ADA," Darryl said.
Phoebe turned to see the guy and she jerked. Her heart raced
as something deep within her took over. It was a strange reaction to a
man she had never met before. But she could not help feeling like she
wanted to kiss him. Something whispered in her mind. 'He's the one...'
"Ladies. My name is Cole Turner and I'm the Assistant District
Attorney assigned to this case. I was wondering if either of you saw what
happened here."
Before she knew it, Phoebe raised her hand and shouted, "I did!"
With those two simple words, she was lost. Her heart knew this Cole and
she trusted him immediately. She would never know that her destiny was
set in motion the day she met Cole, long ago.
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