NOTE: Although the town of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, really existed (in fact Salem stills exists to this day), all the individuals populating it in this story are purely fictional.

We open as the sun rises over Golden Gate Park, casting morning light down on the green grass and the three figures that are lying under a tree. One of them sits up, it's Piper Halliwell, dressed only in her nighties. Looking around, and after pinching herself to make sure this is not some kind of crazy dream, Piper wakes up Prue and Phoebe, who are laying beside her, also clad only in nighties.

Soon all three sisters are on their feet. Phoebe asks how on earth did they get out here to the park. Prue says she has no idea, all she remembers is that she went to bed as usual the previous night. Piper and Phoebe remember the same thing.

At this point, a police officer walks up to the Halliwells. "Morning ladies." he says as he gives their scantily clad bodies a once over. "Little early in the day for you to be practicing your trade." The cop has obviously mistaken the Halliwells for prostitutes!

Prue opens her mouth to offer an explanation, but stops when she realizes she has none.

The cop decides to take the sisters downtown for questioning. The Halliwells go willingly, sure that once they get there, Andy will help them out.

Half an hour later, the Halliwells, now clad in blue overalls provided by the San Francisco P.D., sit in an office. Another officer, Charlie Adams, takes their statements.

Then Adams asks for their home address, which Piper supplies. Adams turns to his computer and types in the information. Suddenly a frown crosses his face and he re-types the info. After that, he turns back to the sisters and tells them that the address Piper gave him belongs to a man named Joseph Scott, who has lived there for more than ten years. "That's crazy." Prue says and leans over the desk to get a look for herself. Sure enough, their house does belong to Joseph Scott.

The Halliwells are totally stunned. Phoebe comments that she feels like they are trapped in an old Twilight Zone episode.

After some further checking, Adams says that he can't find any trace of a Prudence, Piper, or Phoebe Halliwell. No birth certificates, no drivers licenses, no bank accounts, in short nothing to indicate the sisters ever existed.

Prue then asks Adams to contact Officer Andy Trudeau, saying that he will identify them. Adams makes the call and after a few minutes, tells the Halliwells that Officer Trudeau is on his way.

When Andy enters the office, the Halliwells jump up, glad to see him. "Thank God." Prue says and launches into an account of this strange morning. "Excuse me." Andy says, interrupting Prue's story. "Do I know any of you?" He looks at them like a total stranger.

At this point, Phoebe is starting to freak out, with Piper not that far behind. "Of course you know us." Prue tells Andy. "We used to be a couple." Andy apologizes and says that if he had ever gone out with Prue, he surely would remember it. "But since I don't, it never happened. Now if you ladies will excuse me, I'm a busy man." Andy then turns and leaves the office.

Prue manages to calm her sisters down, a theory is starting to form in her mind. A theory she does not particularly like.

At this point, Adams states that until the police can track down some information on the sisters, any information, they will have to be held for further questioning. After all they could be illegal aliens, or even spies. "Spies?" Phoebe asks, "The Cold War is over!" True, Adams counters, but ever heard of industrial espionage? Adams calls a cop in from the hall and asks that he take the sisters to the holding cells.

Prue has had enough, "Now, Piper!" she says and Piper freezes time. The sisters make a break for it.

Once outside the police station, Piper asks what their next move is. Prue says she knows where to go. "There's our transportation." she says, pointing to a parked police car and holding up a set of keys she lifted off a cop.

The sisters piled into the car. Prue starts it up and off they go. "Great." Phoebe mutters. "Stealing a police car." She is sure the Halliwells are going to end up featured on the next episode of America's Most Wanted!

A short while later, the Halliwells arrive at their destination, the cemetery where their mother and grandmother are buried. When Phoebe asks why Prue has brought them here, Prue replies that she has a theory as to what is happening to them and this is the only way to prove it.

After a walk across the cemetery, the sisters arrive at the site of the graves, or rather the site where the graves SHOULD be. The Halliwells stand there and see that there is nothing there, just empty plots. "I thought as much." Prue says. When Piper asks her to clarify, Prue says: "Somehow, time has been changed. In this reality, Mom and Grams never existed; therefore, we don't exist."

Phoebe is baffled, surely if the change in time has wiped out their family line, shouldn't they, the sisters, have ceased to exist as well? "I think I can answer that question." a new voice says as the Halliwell's ancestor, Melinda Warren (see the episode The Witch Is Back), materializes in front of them (to avoid confusion from now on, the Melinda we see in the 20th Century will henceforth be referred to as Spirit-Melinda). Spirit-Melinda says that since the spirit world exists independently of the corporal world, they were unaffected by the time change. Although she could not prevent it, Spirit-Melinda had cast a Spell of Protection, which made the Halliwells immune to the affects of the change in history.

Prue then asks just who or what was responsible.

Spirit-Melinda replies that she does know and starts with the what:

"In the sixth century A.D., towards the end of King Arthur's reign, Merlin, his famous magician, created what he called the Diamond of Ages. This Diamond possessed many amazing powers, including that of time travel, yet for reasons unknown, Merlin chose never to use the Diamond's power. Later on, when the Anglo-Saxon armies invaded Camelot, Merlin buried the Diamond in a random location. It remained buried there for centuries. In the year 1210, during the reign of King John, a farmer was plowing his land when he accidentally dug up the Diamond. The farmer was not in possession of it for very long. For soon after, the King's troops arrived, demanding the farmer pay his taxes (he had fallen behind). The farmer, having not enough money then, gave the Diamond to the soldiers, hoping it would be enough, luckily for him, it was. The soldiers took the Diamond back to London with them and gave it to King John. Over the next few centuries, the Diamond was in the possession of many famous historical English monarchs, Richard III, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, all of them without having the slightest idea of the powers the Diamond possessed. When the English Civil War broke out in 1642, the Diamond was smuggled out of England and taken to France, where the French Monarchy got hold of it. Like their English counterparts, the French Royal Family didn't know about the Diamond's power, they just saw it as another trinket. When the French Revolution started in 1789, the Diamond vanished from sight, only to turn up again some years later in the possession of Napoleon Bonaparte when he became Emperor of France in 1804. It was rumored that Napoleon did suspect that the Diamond had some kind of power, but he was either unable, or unwilling, to use it. Following Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, the Diamond once again dropped from sight for a few years until 1820, when it found it's way into the hands of an American businessman who was visiting Paris at the time. He took it back to the United States with him and presented it to his family, who continued to own it until the recent death of the last living descendent. When no other family members could be located, the Diamond, along with all their other possessions, was put up for auction. It was recently purchased."

At this point, Piper states that this is what brings them to the who. Prue adds that it would have to have been somebody who knew about the Diamond's power and also had a grudge against the Halliwells: "Rex and Hannah!" the three sisters all say at once.

Spirit-Melinda confirms this, saying that Rex and Hannah had indeed gone back in time to Salem of 1692 in order to change the past.

When the Halliwells ask how, Spirit-Melinda refreshes their memories of the original history, of how Matthew had betrayed her (once again I refer you to the episode The Witch Is Back), how she, Melinda, was executed, but her daughter had survived. Spirit-Melinda says that in the new history, about a month before Matthew's betrayal, two men had broken into her house in the middle of the night and murdered both her and her daughter while they slept. Thus the family line was terminated right then and there. The Halliwell branch never got started.

At this point, Prue makes a decision, the sisters have to go back to 1692 themselves and put history back on track. Prue asks if Spirit-Melinda, since the Halliwells no longer have the Book of Shadows, could she send them back into the past?

Spirit-Melinda says she can, but there is a snag: "Since I already exist in that time, I cannot come with you. You three will be on your own." Prue says that is a risk they are willing to take. "So be it." Spirit-Melinda says and raises her hands, which begin to glow, and everything vanishes in a bright white light.

The next thing the Halliwells know, they are standing by a small county lane. The sky is cloudy, and it is cold. They see an arrow sign with the words SALEM, 2 MILES pointing to the north. The sisters head in that direction.

Soon they arrive in Salem, Massachusetts. They see a small town, populated by people wearing clothing of the period (forgive the interruption here, but Colonial America was never a strong point with me, after all I am Canadian, so I may slip up on details from time to time, so just bear with me). Phoebe comments that she suddenly has a craving for Thanksgiving turkey!

Seeing that their blue police overalls are drawing unwanted attention, the Halliwells decide they better get off the streets A.S.A.P. Piper spots an inn across the street and they go over to check it out. They is a notice on the front door, saying that the inn needs some women to do household chores (this is 1692, after all). In return the women would be provided with rooms, meals, and wages (don't ask me how much).

The innkeeper, a man called James Walsh, is cleaning his bar when the Halliwells walk in and say they'll take the jobs. After seeing how Walsh is staring at their overalls, Prue says that their house burned down in a fire. "We lost everything." Walsh says he is sorry to hear it and that the jobs are theirs if they want them. He even says he has some clothes left over from his recently deceased wife, that he is willing to let them have.

Soon the sisters are shown their rooms, which are small but comfortable. Prue says that they will be fine, Walsh says that they can start their chores in the morning and walks away. Prue and Piper notice that Phoebe has been walking up and down the corridor. When they ask what is wrong, Phoebe asks a question that has been bothering her: "Where's the bathroom?" Prue takes her aside and has a quick word with her, after which Phoebe moans, "Do me a favor and just shoot me."

Later that night, Phoebe is lying in bed, tossing and turning. Her mind is just as active as her body. No electricity, no plumbing, no telephones, no MTV! "This proves it." she proclaims to herself. "I'm in Hell!"

The next morning, the sisters sit down to breakfast, before starting their chores. They are now dressed in housemaid clothes of the time (they had taken the time last night to dispose of the anachronistic police overalls). The Halliwells eat their porridge, Phoebe actually saying that this is the first good thing she has had since their arrival in 1692. Suddenly a serious looking man enters the inn and sits down at a table a few over from the sisters. Piper signals Walsh over and asks about the man. "That's Edward Faversham, the Town Squire." Walsh says and then lowers his voice and leans closer to the Halliwells. "Take my advice and steer clear of him. Squire Faversham does not much care for strangers. Especially now." Piper asks why. "Didn't you know? There is witchcraft about." Walsh then makes the sign of the cross and walks away.

In a low voice, Prue comments on the fear and ignorance of this time, how many young women were murdered because of this fear. "That's why we have to keep a low profile." Piper and Phoebe nod in agreement.

Soon the Halliwells begin their new jobs. Piper, because of her experience in the food service industry, works in the kitchen, Prue handles the making of the beds and cleaning of the rooms, Phoebe gets saddled with the job of taking care of the chamber pots! "Ask a stupid question." She mutters referring to her question the previous night about the bathroom.

Later on, Walsh is running short of mutton, and asks Phoebe to go to the market and purchase some more. After learning what mutton is, (it's flesh of sheep) much to her disgust, Phoebe heads out. Once she is out on the street, she gets the impression that she is being watched. The feeling passes and she dismisses it as her imagination and hurries on her way.

As Phoebe passes out of sight, a red-haired woman emerges from a nearby alley. It's Hannah! Quickly she turns and heads off in the opposite direction.

In the room of another inn, on the other side of town, Rex Buckland is holding the Diamond of Ages in his hand, pondering the possibilities. Suddenly Hannah burst in. "What's the matter?" Rex asks. Hannah tells him that she has just seen Phoebe Halliwell. Rex says that this is impossible, but Hannah is firm in her beliefs. She tells him she saw Phoebe come out of the inn on the other side of Salem. Rex considers and then tells Hannah to go there and make sure if it was Phoebe she saw. "One more thing." he adds. "Make sure she doesn't see you!"

As the day progresses, the Halliwells do their chores. While this is happening, Hannah is able to slip into the inn and watch. She is true to her word and the Halliwells never see her.

Later on, Hannah reports back to Rex on what she saw. "Prue and Piper are here as well." Hannah wonders what to do now. "Don't worry about it." Rex says. "I'll handle this."

An hour later, Squire Faversham returns to his office to find Rex sitting in his chair. "What the hell are you doing here?" Faversham asks with panic in his voice. "If someone should see you..." At this point, Rex interrupts him, saying that no one saw him. He goes on to tell Faversham that there has been a slight change in their plans. "The are three new woman in the town, they are witches. I want you to take care of them for me." Faversham refuses, saying that he is already into this as deep as he wants to go, Rex digs into his pocket, pulls out ten solid gold coins, and places them in Faversham's hand. "What was that you said about three witches?" Faversham asks, greed lighting up his eyes. Rex tells him that they work at James Walsh's inn and describes the Halliwell sisters in detail. Faversham says that he was at Walsh's that morning and saw three women answering Rex's descriptions. "Very good." Rex says. "They'll be ten more coins for you after they have been executed. How about the rest of the plan? Have you made contact with the men we'll need." Faversham says he has and that the men in question will be arriving in Salem late tomorrow. "If all goes well, we can proceed tomorrow night, say midnight." Rex tells him that will be fine and gets up to leave. Just as he goes out the door he says: "Just remember, Faversham, before you met me, you were in debt up to your ears. If you do this job right, I'll give you enough gold coins so you can pay off your creditors and have enough left over to retire to some nice tropical location, like the West Indies. Just think about that the next time your conscience starts to bother you."

That evening, the Halliwells are just finishing their chores, when Faversham, accompanied by a group of grim faced men, storms into the inn. "Prudence, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell." Faversham announces in a loud voice. "You are hear by charged with the crime of witchcraft. You will spend the night in the town jail until your trial, which will take place tomorrow morning." Quickly the men grab the three sisters and bundle them out of the inn. James Walsh looks on in astonishment.

The Halliwells are quickly locked up in the town jail. Phoebe protests, saying that their Constitutional rights are being trampled on. Prue points out that the U.S. Constitution hasn't been written yet, and will not be for nearly another century. "So does that mean they can do with us as they please?" Phoebe asks. Yes, Prue replies, that's about it. Phoebe then starts to lose it. "Well that's great! That's just great! I'm stuck in this prehistoric hell hole, no electricity, no running water, the food is barely tolerable, and don't get me started on bathroom facilities, and now, to top it all off, they want to execute us!" Piper tells her to calm down. "I don't want to calm down!"

Phoebe snaps back. "I wish I had never found that stupid Book to begin with. I wish I had never come back from New York! Okay I didn't have a job, but at least I could live my life in peace without having to always look over my shoulder for warlocks, Demons, and general nut cases gunning for me! At least I HAD A LIFE!!" Phoebe pauses to take a breath. "I'm sick of it, Prue. I want out. When we get home, I'm going to relinquish my powers and start living a normal life again. You two can do as you like, but I'm through!" She sits down on a nearby bench.

Prue and Piper just stare at each other for a few seconds, then Prue walks over and hauls Phoebe to her feet. "Now you listen to me, Phoebe Halliwell, and listen good!" Prue says in a stern voice. "All your life you have had it easy. You've taken responsibility about as seriously as Bozo the Clown. Jobs, money, you name it, if it gets too tough, you bail out. These powers are the first thing I have ever seen you take seriously and I am DAMNED if I am going to let you walk away now. Maybe this life is hard, but those are the breaks. We're the Charmed Ones, the Sisters Three, and it's too late to back out now. You think you're the only one who has had to make sacrifices? Think again! Do you know how hard it is to keep Andy, someone I deeply care about, in the dark, to always lie to him? Why do you think we broke up? By comparison, you've had it pretty easy, so stop whining! What do you think Mom or Grams would say if they saw you acting like this? Oh no, Phoebe, you're in this as much as we are, so just buckle down and live with it!" With that, Prue turns and walks to the other side of the cell.

Piper just stares at both her sisters. "When do you think they're going to feed us?" she asks, hoping to break the tension. Neither Prue nor Phoebe answer. "Never mind." Piper says and retreats to her own corner of the cell. After a few minutes she asks why don't they just break out of here.

Prue says they will, but they'll wait until later in the night, when less people are on the street.

Phoebe, who has been silent ever since Prue bawled her out, suddenly has a thought. "When that Squire arrested us, he called us by name. Since we were never introduced, how could he know who we were?" It doesn't take the sisters long to realize what has happened. Rex somehow has Squire Faversham in his pocket.

Later on, the Halliwells decide now is the time. On instructions from Prue, Piper and Phoebe begin a mock argument, their voices getting gradually louder. The ploy works and a somewhat annoyed guard comes charging into cell, telling them to shut up. Quickly, Piper freezes him and the sisters dash out, closing and locking the door behind them. The guard unfreezes and finds himself locked in and the prisoners no where in sight. "Squire Faversham is going to have my head for this."

Free at last, the sister toast their good fortune. "I can't believe he fell for it." Piper says. Simpler times, Prue replies. The sisters wonder where to go next, they can't go back to the inn, that would be the first place Faversham would look for them. "We have to go to Melinda's" Prue says, "There is simply no where else to go."

Soon they arrive at Melinda's house and knock on her door. A sleepy looking Melinda answers, wondering who these three woman are and why are they out in the middle of the night. The Halliwells decide to come clean with her, they tell they have been accused of witchcraft and are seeking shelter. Quickly Melinda ushers them inside.

Once the Halliwells have been made comfortable, Melinda explains that she has helped young woman accused of witchcraft in the past, sheltering them until they can get out of Salem. She, being a witch herself, can understand. Tomorrow she will help the Halliwells escape. "We can't leave yet." Prue says. When Melinda asks why not, Prue replies, "We believe your life is in danger."

Hearing the urgency in Prue's voice, Melinda, who feels some kind of connection to these three young women, believes her. She and her daughter are all alone right now, with her fiance, Matthew, out of town and not due back until next week. Melinda notices the Halliwells seem to tense up when she mentioned Matthew's name and asks what is wrong. "It's nothing." Prue says.

Melinda tells the Halliwells that they can sleep in the living room. The sisters thank their ancestor.

The next day, the Halliwells are helping Melinda in her kitchen, when suddenly Phoebe has a vision of two men, the murderers, breaking into the house. Taking Prue and Piper aside, Phoebe tells them about her vision. "Tonight." she says. "It will happen tonight." Prue says that she has a plan.

Meanwhile, Rex is once again toying with the Diamond of Ages. "Perhaps we should drop by Camelot." he tells Hannah. "Let's thank old Merlin for this trinket." Suddenly there is an urgent knocking on the door. Hannah answers it and Faversham comes running in, saying the Halliwells have broken out of jail. "You idiot!" snaps Rex, momentarily losing his temper. When Faversham says they better cancel their plan, Rex says no. The plan will proceed on schedule, they have come too far to turn back now.

Later that day, Faversham is waiting at the edge of town when two sinister looking characters walk up to him. They introduce themselves as the Waterhouse brothers, Deke and Will, murderers for hire. These are the men Faversham had sent for. Quickly he tells the Waterhouse brothers the plan and says that they will all come out of this very rich if they succeed. "Remember, both Melinda Warren and her daughter must die." Faversham states. To which Deke tells him not to worry, the Warrens are as good as dead. "Me and my brother have never failed a job yet."

At the stroke of twelve midnight, Deke and Will arrive at Melinda's house. They break in without any real problems and creep up the stairs. Seeing two bedroom doors, the brothers put their attack plan into operation. Deke will take Melinda's room while Will goes after her daughter.

Creeping into Melinda's room, Deke pulls out his huge knife and stalks towards the form he sees lying on the bed. Quickly he stabs down upon it, but instead of blood, there is nothing. "What the hell?" Deke mutters and pulls back the covers to see nothing but pillows and sheets. "A setup." he says and turns to leave. Then Prue emerges out of a dark corner of the room and uses her powers against Deke. The murderer goes flying back, hitting the wall just above the bed and collapsing down, unconscious.

At that same time, Will has snuck into the daughter's room and is ready to strike, when Piper steps out of the shadows. Panicking at this unexpected visitor, Will charges her, but Piper freezes him and walks over to another part of the room. When Will unfreezes, he sees Piper has somehow moved in the blink of an eye, but charges her again, only to be frozen. This happens about three or four times before Will freaks out. Screaming "Witchcraft!" at the top of his lungs, Will turns and flees, down the stairs and out into the night, not looking back once.

Faversham, realizing that the brothers should have completed the job by now, goes to Rex and Hannah and tells them everything has gone wrong. He goes on to say that they will surely hang for this. "Wrong, Faversham." Rex says mockingly. "YOU will hang for this." Rex and Hannah both grab the Diamond of Ages and disappear, transported back to 1999. Faversham is left standing there, opened mouth, when Will Waterhouse comes bursting in. "You!" he says to Faversham, "You betrayed us. They were waiting for us, like they knew we were coming." Faversham tries to protest, but Will won't listen. "I'll probably never see my brother again, but I can take care of you." He grabs Faversham by the throat and proceed to throttle the life out of him.

A little while later, Melinda watches as several men from town haul Deke Waterhouse away. When they are gone, Melinda says it's clear and the Halliwells emerge from the closet they were hiding in. Melinda thanks them and says she can't wait to tell Matthew about this. Suddenly Phoebe blurts out: "He is going to betray you." Melinda stares at Phoebe and asks what does she mean. Realizing that the cat is now out of the bag, the Halliwells come clean with Melinda, telling her who they are, where they came from, and why they are here. They tell her about Matthew's coming betrayal, and Melinda's resulting execution. "We can stay here." Phoebe says, "We can stop him." but Melinda says no. When Phoebe asks why not, Melinda says that it is part of history and that they have no right to change it. "She's right, Pheebs." Piper says, placing a comforting hand on Phoebe's shoulder. "If we try to change history ourselves, then we are no better than Rex." Melinda adds that at least her daughter will survive, thus ensuring the Halliwell family tree will one day take root. Although upset, Phoebe realizes that Melinda is right. "Now let's see about getting the three of you back home." Melinda says and, like her spirit did 1999, she raised her hands. They start to glow and once again everything vanishes.

The Halliwells then wake up, back in their beds, at home. After getting dressed, they realize that only minutes have passed in 1999 while they were back in 1692. Suddenly they all have an urge to head up to the attic and they do so. Spirit-Melinda is there, waiting for them. "You knew." Prue says as she walks up to the spirit. "You knew we would succeed all along." Spirit-Melinda admits to that, saying that she couldn't tell the Halliwells until now because for them, those events had not yet occurred. "But it was well worth it." Spirit-Melinda says. "Time has been corrected." She starts to fade away, but then Phoebe brings up an important fact, could Rex and Hannah make another attempt to change the past? "Don't worry about it." Spirit-Melinda replies just before she vanishes. "An old friend of mine has eliminated that threat."

At that same time, in a small apartment in Palo Alto, Rex is making new plans. "We'll go back." He tells Hannah. "We'll try again." he goes over to the desk drawer where he put the Diamond and opens it. Instead of the Diamond of Ages, there is nothing but dust, the Diamond has been pulverized! "But how?" Rex asks and then notices some kind of note among the dust. Picking it up, Rex reads what is written on the note:

What I can create, I can also destroy. Neither you, nor anyone else, will ever again misuse the powers of my Diamond.


- Merlin.

Rex crumples up the note, ready to erupt like Vesuvius. There will be no more time travel for him and Hannah. Hannah manages to calm Rex down, telling him there will be another day. "You're right." he tells her. "The Halliwells have won this battle, but the war continues."

That evening, the Halliwells enjoy a nice 20th Century dinner, pizza. Phoebe seems to be having a good time. When Prue and Piper remind her of what she said in Salem, about giving up witchcraft, Phoebe admits that she was considering it, but the things Prue said to her made sense. After thinking about for a while, Phoebe realized Prue was right, being a Charmed One is a responsibility, one she cannot afford to shirk.

At this point the door bell rings, Prue goes to answer it.

Helping herself to another slice of pizza, Phoebe says she plans to have a nice hot bath in the bathroom with nice running water. At this point, Prue comes back into the kitchen with Andy, who was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by. "You mean you actually know us?" Phoebe asks him. Andy is puzzled by this question, of course he knows the Halliwells, after all, he and Prue used to be a couple. "Why did you ask me that silly question?" Prue says that he wouldn't believe them if they told him. "Try me." he says.

At this point, Phoebe stands up and begins: "Well we woke up in Golden Gate Park in our nighties and then..." At this point, Andy cuts her off, "Okay, okay, forget I asked." he says. Just another day of dealing with the Halliwell sisters!