Switch
By Doug


DISCLAIMER As usual, none of these characters who appeared on the series are mine. This story is written for the enjoyment of the Internet reader. Print it out if you like, but please don't reproduce it or post it on your site without  notifying me first.


"Darryl, please come in." invited Piper one
afternoon while she was about to leave for the
club. Darryl looked a little more worried than
usual.

"Hi, Piper. I have a strange request. Nothing
supernatural this time. Just strange." sighed
Darryl.

"Strange? That's our specialty! What can I do
for you, Darryl?" asked Piper sweetly.

"The Twenty-third Precinct picked up a robbery suspect
this morning. Clara Bingham. She allegedly walked into
the Pacific Merchant's Bank, pulled out a gun and walked
out with $8000. The police found her around the corner
about twenty minutes later completely unconscious. She
was very confused as they booked her. When the officers
asked if she wanted a lawyer, she said that she wanted to
talk to me. I spoke with her on the phone and she begged
for me to bring you or Prue down to meet her. She refuses
to talk to anyone until YOU speak to her." explained
Darryl.

"UH, me? Why me? I certainly don't know any bank
robbers. I never even heard of this person." said
Piper.

"I know it is a strange request, but would you please
come down to help out the SFPD? Maybe she has a
confession or MAYBE something more in your line.
I don't know and I won't until she starts talking."
said Darryl pleading with Piper.

"Ahhh. All right. Let me get my purse. I'll stop by on
the way to the club." Piper said hesitantly.

"Great. Follow me." said Darryl with a slight grin.

"Yea, but to where?" thought Piper while Darryl held
the door for her.
 

Piper was escorted into a small visiting room and sat
at a desk with a glass partition and a telephone on
either side. A woman in her late thirties with dirty
dark brown hair, dark eyes and rather plain features
was brought to the other side of the partition. She looked
very worried and then lit up like a firefly went she saw
Piper. She raised her forehead and had the most infectious
grin.

She picked up the phone, as Piper did likewise and exclaimed
"Piper! Great! Am I glad to see you!"

"Excuse me. Um. Where have we met? I can't place the face!"
Piper said rather stiffly.

"Hey, neither can I! It's me. Phoebe!" she said with pleading
eyes.

"Wow. No. My sister is at school now. I don't know what your
game is. Unless you have something to tell me that makes sense
I have other business." said Piper as she began to hang up.

"No, Piper. It's really me. Something's happened to me." said
the other woman.

"It's nothing I can help you with. Good-bye." said Piper.

"WAIT! YOU'RE A WITCH!" she whispered.

"What? That is known in certain circles." said Piper now
getting nervous but now listening carefully.

"Oh lord. Let's see. Secrets. When I was thirteen years old
I told Grams that I had stomach cramps she and rushed me off to
the emergency room. I faked the whole thing so you and Marty
Lawson could be alone together. IN BED! Remember that. Piper?"
the other woman said tilting her had forward like saying
"Hey, come on!" in typical Phoebe fashion.

"Only Phoebe could know that! Or Marty or Prue. Scratch that.
I never told Prue." said Piper shaking her head.

"Do you want more details? Piper, I'm in BIG trouble here!"
said Phoebe leaning forward.

"PHEEBS! What happened?" cried Piper.

"That's the number one question of the day! Well, this morning
I was heading for the Wicca store on the north end of Market,
when I had a premonition. I saw the Pacific Merchant's Bank
being robbed. It was just around the corner so I went to see.
This woman <Phoebe points to herself.> comes running out of
the bank with a sack and a gun. I tried to stop her, but she
knocked me out. One more belt than I have, I guess. When
I come to these policemen are cuffing me. I was taken down
here and interrogated. You can imagine my shock when I looked in the mirror with this face!" explained Phoebe.

"Didn't you tell them you were innocent?" asked Piper.

"Piper, they have pictures of this person robbing the bank!
They aren't letting out their prime suspect. Besides, I don't
want to end up in the psycho ward after telling that story.
I'm in somebody else's body and if we can't fix it, I'm
going to spend 20 to 30 at San Quentin!" said Phoebe very
agitated.

"Settle down, Pheebs. We'll get you out of this.. ah.. body. I'll
get Prue and we'll check the Book of "you know what"." reassured
Piper.

"I'm worried that this isn't a demon thing. You might not find
anything. AND if you don't find her.. uh.. me.. uh.. my body at all
I'm like totally screwed and so are the CHARMED ONES!" concluded
Phoebe.

"Right. OK. Sit tight." said Piper getting up.

"That's not funny from in here!" said Phoebe shaking her head.

"I'll be back, soon. Take care. Love, you!" said Piper.

"Thanks, Pipe. Love you too!" said Pheebs as she was escorted
away.

"So what's her story?" asked Darryl.

"Your robbery suspect is still loose and that person in there
is Phoebe. Somehow, she's been switched." said Piper.

"That is very hard to believe. But then after knowing you three,
nothing is impossible. If that is Phoebe, there is no way they are
going to release her." explained Darryl.

"I know. At least she's safe. Can't you put out an all points
bulletin for Phoebe? She was a material witness, I guess."
asked Piper.

"I can try. All of the real witnesses were in the bank. Phoebe
obviously ran into her at some point. What's next?" asked Darryl.

"Prue and I will try and find her, too, using some of our tricks.
So thank you, Darryl. Just keep our little sister safe and we'll
help you find the real bank robber. Poor Pheebs!" sniffed
Piper as she left the police station.
 

"Are you sure?" asked Prue as she stood in front of the
Steinhart Aquarium taking pictures for a "914" magazine
article.

"She knows things only Phoebe could know. Like my little
rendezvous with Martin Lawson when I was fifteen. She
kind of helped me with it." said Piper timidly.

"You and Martin Lawson? Never mind. So this woman robs a
bank, steals Phoebe's BODY and takes off?" asked
Prue astonished.

"And her powers, too. Pheebs currently can't sense a thing."
said Piper throwing her hands up.

"Great! Our magical eyes are blind and the one person who
knows the book and does our spell casting is sitting in
jail!" said Prue exasperated.

"With a heavy sentence over her head, too." reminded Piper.

"Let me get these shots to the lab and we'll head for the
Manor. At least this mess wasn't the results of a demon
or Phoebe's own consequences. Come on Piper!" said
a worried Prue throwing her bag over her soldier and
headed for the car.
 

"Phoebe was wrong. We have six demons and seventeen
magic thingies that could be it." said Piper finishing
her notes from the Book of Shadows. "And unless we
find our "body snatcher," we haven't a KAW-LOO where to
begin!"

"From what we know about demons, I doubt one of them
was robbing a bank. So that leaves the magical tokens.
And if I had just pulled off a robbery and thought I had
completely gotten away with it, what would I do?" asked
Prue hypothetically.

"Pay off all my debts?" shrugged Piper.

"WE would do that! She would be celebrating with a lot
of loose cash!" said Prue lighting up.

"Ah, there's a lot of bars and lounges in this city, that is
unless she LEFT the city." said Piper. "Maybe I can try
Phoebe's little map and crystal trick. She's kind of tied
up right now."

Out came the map and out came the crystal. Piper concentrated
on Phoebe and it swung back and forth over the map.

"How does she do it? Oops. I got a tug." explained Piper
with excitement. It pulled left and right and then settled
on...

"Mulberry Street. The 2300 block. That's a rough area." said Prue.

"We've handled worse. I'll contact Darryl, before we go down
there." said Prue.
 

Piper and Prue walked down the street dressed in pizza delivery
uniforms.

"I hate this disguise!" complained Prue.

"We need some reason to get into her apartment. We don't know
which one it is." reminded Piper.

"Excuse me." said Piper to an older woman. We are looking
for Clara Binghamís apartment." Do you know which it is?

"Buzz off!" she replied.

"Well, that far from fruitful." said Piper timidly.

"Let's me try." said Prue holding up her finger. "Excuse me, sir.
I am lost and I HAVE to get this delivered to Clara Bingham
right away. Can you PLEASE tell me which apartment she is in?"
said Prue smiling.

"Hey, mama. What's a foxy chicky like you panning around
pies for?" said a young punk much too please with himself.

"Oh," said Prue trying to act dumb, "Just working my way
through college! Clara Bingham, please."

"NEVER HEARD OF HER. AND since you got those pies there."
said the young punk as his friends stood up and encircled
Prue and Piper.

"Phoebe, where are you when we need you?" thought Piper.
"What would Phoebe do? Oh, yea."

"Prue, follow my lead!" she whispered.

Piper yelled "HIGH-YA." and tried kicking the first young
punk. Prue lowered her head, concentrated and he flew back.
Piper positioned herself in front of the next two guys
who smirked at her. Piper swung again with her foot missing,
but Prue sent both of them reeling backwards.

The others started to run and Piper froze the last of one of
them.

When last one awoke he found himself on the ground with Piper over
him. "Clara Bingham?" she still asked nicely.

"Apartment 3B. But I haven't seen her. Honest!" he pleaded.

"Thank you." Piper said backing off. The punk took off like a
scared rabbit.

"We make a good team. There are serious mortal kicking possibilities
there." said Piper.

"Absolutely." said Prue.

"Working my way through college?" asked Piper amused.

"I didn't look like I was going to take pictures, Piper!" said Prue.
"I must have Phoebe show me that leg thingy you did."

Up two flights of stairs to apartment 3B, they knocked and no one was home. Prue flicked her finger and the door swung open. The apartment was old, cramped and a mess. The furniture was garage sale rejects and the floor was covered with junk.

"Whoa! What a mess? Who could have done all of this?" asked Piper.

"We did!" said a voice behind them.

"Whoa!" cried Piper and "Whoosh!" went her hands.

Holding her head, Prue said, "Piper. Young just froze Darryl."

Whoosh!

"What happened?" Darryl asked puzzled.

"Ah, sorry! I froze you. I still panic from time to time." said
Piper sheepishly.

"Ah, that's OK. I think. So as you can see, the SFPD have already
been through this place picking up evidence. I don't know what
you expect to find." said Darryl.

"It looks like Clara did pack a suitcase before the police got
here. No personal items left. What do we have here?" asked Prue
picking up a newspaper.

"That's the local racing form. She must play the horses." said
Darryl.

"And if she got a premonition from the paper?" said Piper as a
light went off in her head.

"Then she probably went to the track to turn her $8000 into a
fortune!" concluded Prue.

"But there are always consequences!" reminded Piper.

"Consequences?" asked Darryl.

"Contrary to what people might believe witches can't use their
powers to help themselves. Things happens that negate or
eliminate any gain." explained Prue.

"If we could that, we could control the world. And if you do try
to do that you turn into a warlock. Which we don't want Clara to do." said Piper.

"So let's head to the track." said Darryl.

Whoosh!

"Sorry Darryl. Do we want to take a mortal policeman, again?" asked
Piper.

Prue thought of Andy for a moment. "Phoebe has no active power. I think
it's safe." said Prue crossing her fingers.

Whoosh!

"Let's go!" said Prue.

"Did I miss something again?" Darryl puzzled.

"Forget about it! What about the pizza?" asked Piper.

"Leave it!" yelled Prue from the hall.

Piper went over, grabbed a slice and left. "Oh, that's good!"
she exclaimed licking her fingers.
 

Back at the police station Phoebe was washing her hands. She looked
in the mirror at an unfamiliar face. This woman was not the beauty that
Phoebe sort of knew she was. And she must have been pushing forty.
Phoebe pushed her hair back, stood up straight trying to fine some-
thing of Phoebe Halliwell. The woman in the mirror looked so morose that she didn't even have the twinkle in the eye that Phoebe always
seemed to have. Phoebe dreaded the thought of years in prison paying
for another person's crime. Tears came to her eyes and she fell down
on the cot.

Prue, Phoebe and Darryl pushed there way through the crowd.

"I don't see her anywhere!" said Piper hopping up to see over everyone.

"Let me try." said Darryl who knock on the betting office door.

"Yea, what is it?" asked the supervisor.

"SFPD. Have you had any suspicious large winners this afternoon?
More specifically, a young woman, 25, light brown hair betting
large amounts of cash!" asked Darryl very official-like.

"No, Inspector. Our take has been very good today. No one fitting that, description. Sorry." he shrugged.

"No problem. Thank you for your time." he finished and turned to the sisters, "No luck. We should still look for her. The sixth race just ended." said Darryl.

They wandered through the crowds looking every which way. Piper heard
it first.

"God damn this stupid parlor trick. It's not worth a bucket of warm spit." a familiar voice was heard in the corner. They saw their sister
cursing and tearing up some betting tickets. Only it didn't act like her. She was dressed in a gaudy new moo-moo and was slumped over instead of standing up straight as usual.

"Prue!" yelled Piper pointing in the direction of the phony Phoebe.

Prue nodded and circled around to the left while Darryl and Piper
came in from the right.

"Excuse me, Miss. SFPD. I'd like to ask you some questions." asked Darryl politely.

A look of terror came over her face. She pushed him away as Prue and Piper took after her. Darryl was right behind. Phoebe/Clara pushed
her way through the crowds, but the crowd was getting heavier and
she couldn't move as fast.

Darryl reached her first and grabbed her tight. She kicked and
screamed.

"Settle down, Miss Bingham. We want to take you in for questioning."
said Darryl.

"Let me alone you lousy cop. You have the wrong person my name
is Fifi Hallibell." she cried.

"If you mean Phoebe Halliwell, she is in jail and YOU are going to
fix things were her." demanded Prue.

"Who are you two?" Clara sneered at her.

"Just two sisters who love her. How do you do that trick anyway?"
asked Piper.

"Like this!" Clara said as Phoebe's eyes glowed red. Piper felt
woozy for a moment and Phoebe fainted. Piper looked ecstatic and
took off.

"Oh, no not again." said Prue.

"I'll get her," said Darryl.

"Uh, no. Stay here with Phoebe, uh, Piper, whatever!!!" said Prue taking off after her possessed sister.

Piper came around quickly. "Whoa! What was that? I feel so
strange."

"Are you OK, Phoebe?" said Darryl.

"Piper." she corrected.

"Piper?" Darryl asked perplexed.

"AHHH. Wait a minute. That's not my voice. Those aren't
my arms. My Lord. I'm Phoebe!
I'm Phoebe! I'm Phoebe! Whooooaaa! This can't be happening!
If I'm Phoebe, then where am I or she or they?" asked
Phoebe/Piper.

"It looked like Prue took off after Piper!" said Darryl. "I don't
know where they went!"

"I should. THINK PRUE! THINK PRUE!" said Phoebe/Piper as she called
up a premonition. She saw Prue still chasing after "Piper" and getting on the BART train.

"They're heading for the BART station. Let's move it." said Phoebe/Piper. "Not bad for my first premonition." she thought to herself. Phoebe/Piper and Darryl left the track and headed for the station. They were right behind Prue and their objective. All of them squeeze on the same train car. Darryl grabbed her arms and Prue covered her head with her coat.

"There that should do it. She can't channel anything now." said Prue
with confidence.

"Hey, man. What ëcha doing to the lady there." said one of the passengers.

"Police business," said Darryl and others left them along.

Piper/Clara just stood there cursing.

"I would never use such language!" said Phoebe/Piper.

"You just did!" said Prue cutely.

Phoebe/Piper gave Prue a dirty look.
 

"Open up her cell," said Darryl.

Clara/Phoebeís cell was opened and in walked everyone.

"You caught her!" said an excited Clara/Phoebe. "How could you do this to me?" she said to Phoebe/Piper.

"Phoebe, it's me, Piper!" she said with irony in her voice. "I did
say I'd get your body back for you. Our plan had a little flaw in it.
Like we didn't know HOW SHE USED HER POWER!" said Phoebe/Piper looking at Prue.

"Oh, Piper. Do I look that cute when I'm that peeved?" said Clara/Phoebe not trying to laugh.

"No, Pheebs, this is the way I look when I'm peeved! Can we change
things back?" asked Phoebe/Piper.

"Clara, you are now going to do it!" said Prue sternly.

"And why should I? I can get a lawyer and walk right out of here.
Piper isn't charge with anything. Nothing can be proven in
a court of law."  said Piper/Clara smiling.

"No, but the we sisters can send you some place that is not nearly
as pleasant as a nice dry cool jail cell." said Prue.

"You witches, yes I know what you are, would only be sentencing
your sister to be left like they are now and Phoebe will spend
the rest of MY LIFE behind bars. Ha-ha-ha." said Piper/Clara.

"So how did you get that power?" asked Prue.

"I'm half warlock. It's the only trick I can do. And it has
served me will for a long time. You don't really think I'm
Clara Bingham, do you? It's been so long, I don't know who I am."
laughed Clara.

"Then it should be easy for us to vanquish him. He's not even
a full warlock." said Clara/Phoebe. "All together!"

"Here me spirits.."

"Wait. What are you doing?" asked Piper/Clara.

"We will be administering magical justice. If I spend my life
as my sister, I can think of worse fates." said Phoebe/Piper.

"Thanks, middle sister!" said Clara/Phoebe.

"And we will get Phoebe out before even she gets to trial. I
know a judge that doesn't mind supernatural justice as long as
we keep it quiet. I have had my share of that lately."
said Darryl.

"Or we will leave you here stripped of your power." said Prue.

"SO what will it be? Hell or San Quentin? Huh?" asked Clara\
Phoebe.

"All right. All right. Unbind me. Ill take care of everything,"
said Piper/Clara giving up.

"Wait a minute. Darryl. You and I must leave the cell or we could be worse off." said Prue.

They left and Piper/Phoebe unbound her eyes. "No tricks!" she reminded her.

She lowered her eyes and Piper felt faint.

"Piper. Wake up Piper!" said Clara/Phoebe. "Are you al right?"

"Whoa. What a kick. Look at me, I'm home! Yippee." Yelled Piper as she jumped up and down.

"Clara?" asked Clara/Phoebe.

"Yea, yea, yea! You know that power of yours really s***s. I kept
seeing all these great payoffs and every time I bet on them the
odds went down to less than two to one." groaned Clara.

"The consequence of a witch's actions always catches up with them. It probably won't let you win big. It's just trying to keep the playing field even." said Piper. "Now change Phoebe back!"

"Whatever!" said Phoebe/Clara as her eyes glowed again and Phoebe fell to the floor.

"You sure take that transition better than us," said Piper as she knelt down and comforted Phoebe.

"I've been doing it for centuries." said Clara now looking like her mean old self.

"And that's the last time. From now until the final hour, I thee bind thy magic power." recited Prue. "There, later we'll strip you of it entirely. I don't want you leaving this jail as some guard or police officer."

"Good precaution, Prue." said Darryl still mystified.

Clara just growled at them.

"Come on, Pheebs, wake up" said Piper.

"What a weird dream. I looked in the mirror and saw AHHHHHH.. THAT reflection! Piper, Piper!" said Pheebs scared.

"Settle down. Everything was fixed right down to the last soul.
You'll be fine," said Piper stroking her sister's hair.
 

"So how did you like being Pheebs?" asked Phoebe to Piper.

"Except for the strange voice in my head, it wasn't long enough
to really make a difference." said Piper.

"It was weird hearing someone else's voice when you spoke." said
Pheebs.

"I meant the one in my head that kept telling me" GO GET IN PRUE'S CLOSET! GO GET IN PRUE'S CLOSET!" said Piper giggling uncontrollably.

Pheebs just threw a pillow at her as everything was truly back to normal at Halliwell Manor.
 

THE END