Sword and the City Rewrite (Part I)

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of the characters… although, I really wish I did own at least a certain slightly neurotic, but charmingly adorable future Whitelighter. Unfortunately they belong to someone else. So does the episode Sword and the City.

Author's Note: This was a little wild hare of mine… and I just had to get it out. The episode Sword and the City originally ran in Season 6 of Charmed… one of only two episodes that season that didn't have Chris in it. I figured, there must have been some reason for it, right? Anyway, here's my altered version. The first few parts are basically transcripts from the show, but there are differences as it goes on. Promise! I hope you enjoy it.

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"It looks like they're all asleep. Maybe I should sneak out of here," Richard says casually to Paige as they walk into the Manor's kitchen together with their arms around one another.

"No. Why don't you stay for breakfast?" Paige suggests, turning to look at him, "How do you like your eggs?"

Richard smiles at her, "What about your sisters?"

Paige's eyes twinkle with mirth as she starts backing up from him to begin breakfast, "What about them?" In her backwards movement, Paige trips over a pair of legs that are sticking out from under the sink and falls on the ground.

"Whoa!" Richard says, reaching to stop Paige from falling, but not moving quite fast enough to manage. Both Piper and Paige stand up, dusting themselves off.

"Oh! Sorry. You okay?" Piper asks her sister.

Paige nods, looking at Piper with a puzzled expression, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to fix the garbage disposal. What are you doing?" Piper asks with a little smirk.

"Messing around."

Piper raises her eyebrows, "Ohh…"

Richard looks apologetic and offers, "Sorry, I should have told you I was here."

Piper waves him off, "No, don't be silly. Paige is a big girl, she can hang out all she wants to. Not that she does, a lot, I mean."

Paige makes a face at Piper, "You can stop now."

"Great," Piper says, starting to turn back to the garbage disposal.

Richard steps over, "Hey, you mind if I take a look?"

Blinking, Piper steps out of the way, offering the screwdriver to Richard, "Sure. Go ahead."

"Okay," Richard says, standing over the sink. He doesn't take the offered screwdriver. Instead the man flips on the garbage disposal creating a rather loud racket.

"What's wrong with the disposal anyway?" Paige asks.

Piper sighs, raking a hand through her hair, "Not disposing. Washer not washing, cable not cabling."

The youngest Charmed Sister adds, "Don't forget the sink upstairs."

"Yeah, that's next on my list," Piper grumbles.

"Sounds like fun," Paige says sarcastically.

"It's my life, actually, all about fun," the eldest Halliwell quips.

As the two sisters are engaged in their conversation, Richard holds his hand above the sink using magic to repair the problem. The dirty water empties down the drain after just a second of his magical intervention on the garbage disposal, "There you go, good as new."

"He's handy to have around," Paige says.

Piper, however, isn't as pleased with the results. The brunette's expression could be surmised as disapproving big sister, "Yeah. I thought you didn't use magic anymore?"

"Just once in a while, for little things," Richard says, "You want me to fix the washer?"

Simultaneously Paige and Piper answer. Paige with a 'yes' and Piper with a firm 'no'. The two exchange looks with one another, making Richard slightly uncomfortable. Phoebe walks into the kitchen just a moment later, rather dressed up.

"Can you guys help me pick out some earrings?" Phoebe asks. She raises her eyebrows when she notices Richard in the kitchen with her two sisters, "Hi, I didn't know you were here."

Richard nods, "Hey, yeah, we got in late last night."

Phoebe raises her eyebrows, "I see."

Piper chimes in, "He fixed the garbage disposal."

Phoebe looks impressed, "Really?"

Piper nods, "Mm-hmm. Magically."

That response drops Phoebe's impressed look to one closer to Piper's earlier disapproving look, "Really?" She places a hand on Piper's arm, "Can you help me with my earrings out here, please?"

Piper agrees, "Sure."

As the two older sisters leave the room, Paige is left alone with Richard and restates her question to him about breakfast, "So how do you like your eggs? Scrambled of over easy?"

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Phoebe frowns, looking over her shoulder into the kitchen as she and Piper walk into the dining room. The pair move to the bottom of the stairs before Phoebe speaks, "Okay, listen. Was that weird?"

Piper doesn't answer the question, although she clearly agrees with the opinion over Paige's relationship with Richard. Instead she chooses to comment on Phoebe's attire, "Why are you so dressed up?"

Phoebe smiles, "Because I have a date with Jason." Shaking her head, she tries to keep things on topic. "But that's beside the point. Didn't Richard lose it the last time he used magic? I mean, like really lose it?"

"Uh, I can assure you that he stayed in complete control over the garbage disposal," Piper says, again turning the subject away from their baby sister, "Uh, it's seven o'clock in the morning, how can you have a date?"

"Oh, because it's seven here but it's evening in Hong Kong," Phoebe answers. She's only diverted from the topic for just that moment and latches right back onto the reason she asked Piper out here to talk, "Okay, so you're not concerned about Richard using magic?"

Piper sighs, "Yeah, I am, but I'm more concerned with Paige being really pissed off because we butted into her business again."

"Yeah, I know," Phoebe says, "but we're sisters, that's what we're supposed to do."

Piper shakes her head; giving it one more try to turn Phoebe away from the topic of Paige. Piper might not fully approve, but it was none of her business. None of their business, especially with how much trouble their interfering in Paige's life the last time caused. "Uh, back to your date. I don't understand, is Chris orbing you to Hong Kong?"

"No, we're video conferencing. We just open our laptops and there we are in color," Phoebe says, getting pulled off track again by her older sister.

Piper smiles, "Mm-hmm, in each other's laps."

Phoebe goes right back to the topic of Paige and Richard, "So do you think we should talk to Paige about Richard?"

Piper is slightly exasperated with Phoebe, but she does have concerns of her own, "We don't really know him."

"I know, we don't," Phoebe says, "And neither does she, that's the problem." Phoebe looks at Piper, noticing the expression on her face. "What, can't I worry?"

"From afar, yeah," Piper says. She really shouldn't have to remind Phoebe not to stick her nose into Paige's life unless she asks. Inevitably it would be Piper having to play referee there if that happened. She turns away and starts towards the stairs, "Now, excuse me, I have to go unclog a sink."

As Piper goes up the stairs, Phoebe holds up the two different pairs of earrings trying to decide between the two of them. Piper walks into the bathroom and makes a face at the water in the sink. Setting her tool box down, Piper looks at the clogged sinks.

"Well, maybe a little magic couldn't hurt."

Just as Piper is getting ready to use a spell to unclog the sink the water bubbles up. Piper takes an involuntary step back from it. The bubbling water lifts up forming into the face of a woman. The desperate plea from the water woman calls out to the eldest Charmed Sister, "Help me."

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The Charmed Ones orb into a sunny park beside a lake to answer to the call of the watery woman that appeared to Piper. Paige looks at her sisters, "Okay, so water lady pops up from the sink. Are you sure she's not a demon?"

Piper shakes her head, stepping forward, "I'm sure she needed help."

Phoebe asks, "What else did she say?"

Piper shrugs, "That was it. Pretty park, pond and poof." The water in the pond starts to bubble up and a sword dramatically rises up out of the water. Piper gestures towards it, "Over there."

A woman made of water rises from the pond. Held in her hand is a gleaming sword, held prominently in front of her as she moves towards the Charmed Ones. The watery woman floats towards the land and as her feet touch it, she turns solid, heading straight towards the girls. "They're coming. Take this, it does not belong to them."

A black cloaked man shimmers in, wielding a dagger and a shield. His target is seen in the woman with the sword and he flings the dagger at her. The dagger strikes its target in the watery woman, stabbing her. As the woman falls, the sword flies from her hands over some of the trees. The Charmed Ones race towards the woman just as two more demons wearing black masks shimmer in. Both of the black masked demons carry battle-axes. The first man materializes a sword in his hand to replace the dagger he used to stab the water woman.

Phoebe and Paige turn towards the demons to fight them.

"Axe!" Paige calls, orbing the weapon into her hand and using it to vanquish him.

Phoebe gets the axe from the other demon and cuts him down with it, vanquishing him. Piper is left to deal with the first man and she tries to blow him up as Phoebe and Paige run over.

"I'm liking these odds," Phoebe says, hefting her axe threateningly.

Seeing that it's just him against the three Charmed Ones, the man shimmers out.

Paige sniffs, dropping her axe, "Wuss." Phoebe drops her axe as well, looking at the spot that the man shimmered away from.

Turning back to the woman that had emerged from the lake they are in time to hear her dying words, "The sword. The sword is…" That is the last that she is able to get out before she dissolves, turning into a puddle of water.

Phoebe blinks, "Where'd she go? What'd she say?"

"Uh, she said something about the sword. Where is it?" Piper asks, turning around. All three sisters stop, staring at it.

"It's in the stone," Paige says softly, stating the obvious.

Phoebe questions, "The sword and the stone?"

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me. Right?" Piper asks, rolling her eyes.

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Belladona-Isabela: Thank you for the review!