03x15 - Schrodinger’s Future

[bunniefuu]

Previously, on Charmed...

Soul softeners.

All you need is a soul donation

from James Westwell's birth lineage.

Georgie is a Westwell, and the key to your mortality.

It's time for the next step of my journey to become mortal.

Celeste is ready for me.

Stripping your immortality is experimental, and the side effects are unknown.

Today is the beginning of a long and complicated process.

MEL: Mel, I've come from the future.

And bad things are happening in my time.

Which is why I need you to do something for me.

This is my...

Baby from the future, and it's my job to keep it safe.

WOMAN: You are at peace with your baby,

and your baby is at peace with the world.

- Clear your mind of all thoughts.

- [GASPS SOFTLY]

"More... prenatal...

"Vitamins."

Your body is at rest.

Your mind is at rest.

Your eyes are closed,

but your mind is open.

Happy mommy, happy baby.

Happy mommy, happy baby.

Happy mommy, happy baby.

["UP!" BY THE LEGENDS FEATURING VILMA FLOOD PLAYING]

[BREATHES DEEPLY]

♪ I haven't said I have been fed up ♪

Push!

Push!

♪ Gonna take a little time away from your company... ♪

[PANTING]

- [PANTING, CHUCKLES]

You knocked seconds off your time.

- Is that why my lungs are burning?

- [CHUCKLES]

I forgot how utterly exhausting it is to be mortal.

- No pain, no gain, Harry.

- [GRUNTS LOUDLY]

Leg cramps.

A-Are you hurt?

Do you think you might need to see a doctor?

No.

No.

- I'm fine.

- You know, when you're human, you're gonna have to get health insurance.

A driver's license.

Social Security card.

Macy, it's fine.

The Elders took care of that years ago.

Oh.

You okay?

I'm fine.

I'm just trying to plan for the future.

You make plans when you're stressed.

- If you want to talk about anything...

- What I want is a cup of coffee and some pastries from that little shop in Paris.

Just so happens I picked up some croissants this morning.

I'll race you for the chocolate.

Right.

My leg!

[GROANS]

[SIGHS]

♪ Here's my beginning... ♪

[SIGHS]

Why isn't this working?

♪ From a life spent on the run... ♪

[SIGHS]

Bed.

Sweater.

Blanket.

No.

No.

And nope.

Be a lot easier to get a vision if I could freaking touch my sister.

[EXHALES]

♪

[SNARLING, CLICKING]

[GASPS]

[PANTING]: Oh, God.

- [DOOR CLOSES]

- You're late for your daily assessment.

Harry, what did I tell you about exerting yourself?

It was just a little run.

Exertion could lead to side effects.

Why didn't you tell me you're not supposed to go running?

- It's fine, really.

- No, it's not fine.

I can't protect you if you don't listen to me.

Now, I need to take your vitals.

[EXHALES]

Ooh!

Stairs.

Save me a chocolate croissant.

[EXHALES]

MACY: Hey, Mel.

You want a chocolate croissant?

- Freshly baked this morning in Paris.

- No, thanks.

- Healthy snacks only.

- [FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]

Ooh, Mags.

Croissant?

- It's the real deal.

- No.

This is a disaster!

It's just a pastry.

Not that.

I did it.

I finally got a vision of the future.

And?

And we have to go there.

Now.

Or there won't be one.

Going to the future?

No.

Bad idea.

- Butterfly effect.

Too risky.

- What's risky is sitting here, waiting for this dark future to unfold.

We need to find Future Mel.

She can give us answers.

Tell us how to stop it.

I don't know what future me was running from, but she...

I...

Clearly went to great lengths to bring this baby here.

I...

I can't just take it back.

Mel's right.

We can't send Mel to the future with the baby.

We'll have to go ourselves.

[BEEPS]

I feel fine.

Your body and your soul are going through a massive transformation.

Who knows how many phases and side effects you'll experience during the process.

Now, I need you to do what I say.

[LAUGHING]

What is so funny?

I don't know.

Your face, you just look so...

[LAUGHING]

... serious.

Celeste.

Celeste.

Sorry to interrupt.

We need a favor.

Are you ladies sure about this?

[SCOFFS]

Dimensional magic is tricky.

Going to the future for more than minutes at a time can lead to a host of temporal issues like...

MACY: Rapid aging.

- We know.

- MAGGIE: Mel and Josefina added a temporal tea potion to The Book of Shadows.

Mel's brewing it up as we speak.

And that's all very well and good, but your powers will not work in the future because temporally, this you doesn't exist in the future.

But spells and potions do, so no worries.

If you get into trouble, there's no way

- for us to...

- Earbugs.

In the box.

They should allow us to communicate across time.

Cimices loquantur.

[EARBUGS CHIRPING]

Oh!

[CLEARS THROAT]

So, I see you've thought of everything.

We have.

Look what I made.

[HARRY LAUGHS]

[BABBLES]

Whee!

[LAUGHING]

C-Celeste, what is...

What's happening?

Damn.

I was afraid of this.

He's regressing.

The soul Harry took from young Georgie was immature.

It'll take time to catch up to his body, hopefully

- in just a few hours.

- [HARRY BLOWING RASPBERRY]

[HARRY LAUGHING]

So...

Where am I sending you two?

Let's start here.

SafeSpace.

We can figure it out from there.

Time is a river which flows both ways.

Carry these witches to future days, where they will retrieve the knowledge they seek.

- [TICKING]

- SafeSpace on this very street.

[TICKING GROWS LOUDER]

[WHOOSHING]

[EXHALES]

Woah.

- That was...

- Different.

It's the courtyard at SafeSpace.

Hey, look at this.

Looks like volcanic salts and lavender?

Maybe this is where Future Mel did her spell.

[DOOR OPENS]

Macy?

You were right.

The world is...

O-officially over.

RUBY: Okay.

I got all the stuff from your office, and I got you a little pregnancy care package.

Um, shea butter for stretch marks, Picot for nausea, compression socks for swollen ankles, and, of course, more healthy snacks.

[CHUCKLES]: Thanks, Rubes.

Sorry, I'm trying to clear some space to sort through ingredients.

Can you leave it in the foyer on the way out?

Uh, my...

My way out?

You don't need help with the potion?

I know you don't like to get into all the magic stuff, so...

- [OBJECT CLATTERS]

- [GROANS]

Damn it.

I've got the pregnancy dropsies.

I'm an accident waiting to happen.

- I got it.

- I'll get it.

[GROANS, GRUNTS]

No.

It's all good.

Stop being stubborn, Mel.

It's okay to ask for help.

You're not in this alone.

- I want to talk to Macy.

- Macy's busy.

You're not the boss of me.

I can take care of myself.

Can you?

Because currently, you're behaving like a child.

[GROANS]

I wish you would just go home already.

When I'm certain that you will not get yourself k*lled the second I leave, I will be happy to go home, but now I must focus.

I need to find anything that will lessen your symptoms.

We should never have written this damn thing in code.

So annoying.

[WIND WHISTLING]

MAGGIE: This is a nightmare.

What the hell happened here?

MACY: Whatever it was, I think it happened a long time ago.

I doubt Future Mel's still hanging around here.

Hey.

You-you okay?

My worst fears about the future...

I wasn't wrong.

How are we ever gonna fix all this?

[SIGHS]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

Hey.

How are...?

I figured no powers, no allergy.

Was worth a sh*t.

Hey, Mags?

We can't lose hope.

We changed the future once before.

We can do it again.

We just got to move fast.

Right.

We've got minutes.

Make that minutes.

Let's check the house, see if we can find Future Mel.

[FEEDBACK SCREECHING]

- HARRY [DISTORTED]: Macy?

- Celeste?

What-What's going on?

Macy, can you hear me?

- Harry.

Is everything okay?

- HARRY: Can you see spaceships?

Uh, s...

No, no spaceships.

What?

Spaceships?

Harry, did you take that earbug when I explicitly told you not to?

"Don't play with weapons.

"Don't use the earbugs.

"Don't portal to the moon."

You never let me do anything.

- CELESTE: It is not a toy.

- Harry, j-just listen

- to Celeste.

- Oh, my God, seriously?

[HIGH-PITCHED WHIRRING]

Oh, crap.

[BOOM REVERBERATES]

Abby?

Macy?

Maggie?

But that's impossible.

What's impossible?

Maggie, you're...

You're dead.

RUBY: So, this potion will stop them from aging in case...

They get stuck or something goes wrong.

The future is dangerous.

Speaking of...

the future, we have yet to discuss the elephant in the room.

Am I the elephant?

What?!

What?

N-No.

God.

No.

I'm talking about the baby.

Like, like, you're having a baby in the future.

Um...

You get any more details from Future Mel?

Like?

Like, uh, what happens to us?

[PHONE CHIMES]

"Yo, Ruby.

"Soccer at : . You in?" Give me a sec.

It's okay, Ruby.

You can go.

Mel, you think I would leave to watch a soccer match in the middle of all this?

Is there something you're not telling me about the future?

Like what?

[EXHALES]

Like...

we don't end up together?

You travelled here from ?

- Yes.

With Celeste's watch.

- Well, you picked one hell of a time for a visit.

Can we go back to the part where I d*ed?

What happened?

In short, I k*lled you.

I had no choice.

It infected you.

Sorry, "infected"?

What?

We don't need a drink.

We need to know what "it" is.

A plague on all our houses.

Human, demons, witches.

The entire world fell rabid under its thrall.

Well, how do we k*ll it?

k*ll it?

You can't k*ll it.

It gets in your brain, hijacks the worst part of yourself, and then that's all you are.

Mel called it the whispering evil.

Mel.

Th-That's why we came here.

Where is she?

Wish I knew.

Truly.

I was part of her resistance, if you can even call us that.

A desperate few defending Vera Manor while Mel toiled away in the attic day and night looking for a way to cure everyone.

She didn't find a cure?

She said she was close.

Something about a breakthrough, but...

... but that's when they came for us.

The Infected.

We tried to hold them off, but there were so many.

We were overrun.

It was chaos.

No one's seen her since.

[SNARLING, CLICKING]

[WHISPERS]: You go left.

I'll go right.

We don't have our powers.

Bloody hell.

Then hide, quick.

[SNARLING NEARBY]

[RAPID CLICKING]

That's the sound I heard in my vision.

Uh, Celeste?

Harry?

Do you read?

[SNARLING AND HISSING NEARBY]

Abby's trap must have short-circuited my earbug.

Great.

No powers, no communication.

[LOUD CLATTERING]

No.

Please.

Don't do this.

[SCREAMS]

[SNARLING AND HISSING CONTINUE]

[SIZZLING]

[SNARLING, CLICKING]

[SHRIEKING]

I can't believe we just watched Abby get vanquished.

What the hell was that thing?

The whispering evil?

I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to.

Let's get to the house, see if we can figure out where Mel might have gone.

Or find the cure she was working on.

How are we doing on time?

minutes.

It's a race against time, literally.

You're doing it again, Mel.

Pushing me away.

I just don't want you to feel responsible for this baby.

You're having a baby in five years, not tomorrow.

Maybe.

What-what do you mean?

The future that Maggie saw was bleak.

What if my future self doesn't make it back?

I may have to have this baby in the here and now.

Are you ready for that?

Am-am I ready for that?

[PHONE RINGING]

Celeste, what's-what's going on?

We've lost contact with your sisters.

What happened?

No idea.

The line's gone dead, and I don't know how to work

- these little buggers.

- Um...

Macy has a calibration tool in the far cabinet.

- It's in a wooden box.

Try that.

- Will do.

Also, you should probably brew up some more of that temporal tea.

Two or three batches will do.

There's no telling how late they're going to be.

- Celeste, wait.

- [LINE DISCONNECTS]

What am I gonna do?

I barely have enough time to finish this batch, much less three more.

There just isn't enough time.

Uh, wait, d-do you...

Do you have fleabane, cowrie shells, black salt, uh...

Oh, and-and also some hellgrammite?

Of course.

Why?

I know how to make enough temporal tea... fast.

Ruby, are you about to...

Do some magic?

Nope.

We

are gonna do some magic, Mel.

Oh, Harry, I will handle this.

Sit over there, please.

[SIGHS]

Could you be any more condescending?

Ah.

I see we've reached the, oh, so respectful teenage years.

- k*ll me now.

- Why should I be respectful?

You don't even know what you're doing.

I built the damn witchboard, young man.

I think I can figure out a simple piece of magical tech.

Okay, Smart-zilla.

Turn it on, then.

[CLEARS THROAT]

Uh...

[SWITCHES FLICKING]

[SIGHS]

- [WHIRRING]

- You're welcome.

Thank you.

Now we just need to see if it registers

- our little friends here.

- [PINGING]

Can you hear me?

I'm not deaf.

Through the earbug.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Good.

Okay, these two seem to be working.

The problem must be on their end.

Mm.

How do you scan for other bugs?

[SIGHS]

Now what?

Ah!

We wait and hope this machine reconnects with Macy's earbug before they run out of time.

[GRUNTS]

Damn.

Yeah.

Mel?

Anyone home?

Really doesn't look like it.

No wonder Future Mel sent her baby back.

Whispering evil turned the world into a hellscape.

Well, let's hope Mel left some clues about that cure she was working on.

Or where she went.

Candelas incende.

Hey, that's...

That's what triggered my vision.

Hmm.

"Familia por siempre."

Family forever.

Oh.

Maggie, look.

Jackpot.

_ Doesn't look like she was working on a cure.

Looks like she was trying to solve a mystery.

What were you doing, Mel?

Look at this.

"Researchers are baffled "by a strange symbol that has appeared postmortem "on the bodies of the afflicted." That's a Tomb of Chaos symbol.

You should not do this.

Not now.

MO: There is another

more terrible danger out there.

You need us, or else you will never survive it.

Oh, my God.

The Perfecti's warning, this dark future, they're...

They're one and the same.

Look at these dates.

This-this is three weeks from now.

O-Our now.

In the present.

Well, the answers are here.

They must be.

I just don't know if we have time to go through all of this in minutes.

Wait, that can't be right.

We had minutes back at SafeSpace.

Oh, no.

The watch.

It must be broken.

Without the watch, we can't go back.

MAGGIE: This cog.

[SIGHS]

It must have broken when we got blasted by Abby's trap.

You wouldn't happen to know anything

- about watchmaking, would you?

- [CHUCKLES]

Sorry.

Not a ton of crossover between genetics and horology.

We need Celeste.

Any luck with the earbug?

I got good news and bad news.

Bad first.

This?

Earbug.

- Toast.

- Oh.

Good news?

Cimices loquantur.

- [WHIRRING]

- Aah!

[CHUCKLES]

I-I found my box of spare parts.

You're the only person I know whose good news is a box of bug parts.

Well, right now, it's our only chance at saving our human parts.

Well, let's make some bugs, then.

RUBY: Behold, "Mommy's Little Helper." An acceleration potion, courtesy of my mother.

As a single parent, she had to get creative, and with this, it took her only seconds to clean up after dinner.

Are you sure about this?

I-I know your relationship with magic is...

Complicated.

But ours isn't, Mel.

Our relationship is simple.

I love you.

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

Is it dangerous?

- The potion?

- Only if you use it for too long.

Which you won't, right?

Don't worry about me.

Just keep that cauldron boiling.

Mm!

Ooh, I forgot how bitter potions are.

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

All right.

Let's get to work.

[BUBBLING]

Whoa.

- [PINGING]

- HARRY: Ugh.

- What's taking so long?

- Be quiet.

I'm just trying to listen for transmissions.

Stop telling me what to do.

You're not my mother, Celeste.

Well, I gave you a new life, and this is how you treat me.

Oh, look how well it worked out.

Harry, I'm just trying to do what's best.

What's best for me or for you and your conscience?

[BEEPS]

MACY: Harry?

Celeste?

Please tell me you read me.

- Loud and clear.

- Macy?

Are you okay?

We're fine, um, but the watch is broken.

The little wheel thing i-is bent.

Please tell me it can be fixed.

CELESTE: No.

It can't.

But...

It can be...

Replaced.

I have a backup movement right here.

Well, how are we supposed to get it?

The command center is one of the most secure places in the magical world.

I will hide it here, and it'll be waiting for you in five years.

One problem.

There's a monster in SafeSpace.

Unless you fix that watch, you'll be there forever.

Macy.

Okay, well, I guess we're going to the command center.

[SIGHS]

But we never found Mel.

MACY: Her research could save the world.

If only we could take it back with us.

Wait.

Powers don't work, but spells and potions do.

Somewhere in here.

Yes!

Check this out.

Minutus sis.

[BLOWING]

I had to shrink my notes for an algebra final freshman year.

Don't judge me.

MACY: Celeste, we're on our way.

[WHEEZES]

[COUGHS]

[BLOWS]

[WHOOSHING]

Oh, I think we're good, Rubes.

Thanks.

Just like riding a bike.

- Ish.

- Are you okay?

[PANTING]

Um...

Ruby!

Well, at least this place is still intact.

Although there are only a few dots left on the witchboard.

Hopefully, one of them is Mel.

Let's fix that watch.

[PINGING]

Wait.

If those two dots are us...

- ... then who's that?

- [SNARLING, CLICKING]

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]

[SNARLING, HISSING]

Macy?

I k*lled Abby?

[ROARING]

Worse.

You try to k*ll us.

Run!

Ruby.

Ruby, talk to me.

[GROANS]

You got to give me something.

I-I can't cure you if I don't know what's wrong.

[SIZZLING]

Oh, my God, that's it.

You're overheating.

[GRUNTS SOFTLY]

- [GRUNTS]

- Ruby, can you hear me?

Yeah.

Ears are good.

Everything else?

[GRUNTS]

Not so much.

[GRUNTING]

Oh!

[EXHALES]

Am I dreaming?

Or are we...?

Touching.

[BOTH CHUCKLE SOFTLY]

[BOTH PANTING]

[BOTH PANTING]

[WHISPERS]: Oh, my God.

It's gone.

Scratch that, I'm gone.

What the hell happened to me?

Why...

Why would I att*ck myself?

[SNARLING, CLICKING]

- [COUGHING]

- Are you okay?

It's just a little asthma.

Do you have something for it?

No.

I never needed to worry.

I never aged, I never got sick until I gave up my immortality.

I'm not used to this kind of stress, Harry.

Well, uh, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to cause you any trouble.

Yeah.

Well, from here on in, I'll have your cooperation?

Wherever you are in your development cycle.

Well, I'm feeling in the to range, which is old enough to start to feel badly for the trouble I've caused.

[CHUCKLES]

MAGGIE: Harry?

Celeste?

We have a problem.

We've been chased out of SafeSpace.

Chased by what?

We'll explain later.

[BOTH PANTING]

We're in the Pacific Mall inside Ivy's Boutique.

There's no way we can make it back to the command center.

Then I'll bring the part to you.

Hide it where you are.

- Sit tight.

- [EXHALES]

Okay.

Okay, just hurry.

That mall isn't far.

- We can make it.

- No.

No.

I will only slow you down.

You're gonna have to go it alone.

But my powers are fading.

It's a good thing you've been getting in shape.

- But the regressions.

You said...

- Forget what I said.

You can do it.

Now run, Harry.

Run.

[SNARLING, HISSING NEARBY]

Harry's powers are on the fritz.

What if he doesn't make it in time?

He will.

Powers or no powers, he'll make it.

- [SNARLING]

- [SCREAMING]

Maggie!

Maggie!

Maggie!

[GRUNTING]

Harry, whatever you're gonna do, do it fast.

Hang on.

I'm nearly there.

Let's go downstairs.

Heading upstairs to you now.

- No, no, wait.

I need you to leave the watch mechanism

- somewhere downstairs.

- Downstairs?

Why?

Just trust me.

Don't worry, I'll find a new place.

Excuse me.

I found a place to hide the part.

Can you get to Lazgrove's?

It's a tailor's.

Okay.

Harry, we're in.

Give me a hand with this.

Right, where do we look?

I'm hiding the part behind the brick wall.

It should be safe there.

But which brick?

Whoa.

[SNARLING, CLICKING]

[POUNDING ON DOOR]

You got it, Mags?

I'm working on it.

Maggie, hurry.

I'm going as fast as I can.

Got it.

Ready?

BOTH: Hands of time turn around.

[ROARING]

Help us back and homeward bound.

[GRUNTS]

Oh, my God.

We're...

MEL: Old as hell.

Unless you guys really want senior discounts, you better start drinking.

- [GROANS]

- Come on.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Coming.

[GROANS]

["ETERNALLY" BY JULIA LUCILLE PLAYING]

MEL: Whoa.



- ♪ Duck ♪

- [EXHALES HEAVILY]

♪ And I'll follow... ♪

I don't get the chance to grow old in the future.

And I become a monster.

♪ Eternally... ♪

Look, the last time I went to the future, I saw my own headstone.

But we changed that.

We'll do it again as long as we stick together.

Let's make a pact, then.

To always make time for each other like this no matter what changes.

Be it babies.

Or boyfriends who act like babies.

- [CHUCKLES]

- But next time, with pinot.

Yeah.

Damn, and all I have is this cab.

Oh, thank God.

How's it going?

Well, based on this board, we have about three weeks to stop the whispering evil from devouring the entire world.

I just wish we knew how to fight it.

I might have an idea about that.

- How are you...?

- What?

I don't understand it yet, but I think my future self sent this baby here to do more than just stay safe.

I think it's here to help save us from our allergy.

♪

- HARRY: You're leaving.

- Ah, damn it.

I was hoping to sneak out.

Never been much for goodbyes.

But I'm not fully mortal yet.

Well, not yet.

But you don't need me hovering over you to do that.

You were right.

I was too focused on helping you, on assuaging my guilt for everything I'd done to you, that I forgot the most important parts of being human.

Being free to make mistakes.

And learn from them.

Well, no apology necessary.

And thank you for all your help and patience.

[CHUCKLES]

♪ Call but I don't answer... ♪

Back to Mykonos.

[CHUCKLES]

♪ Eternally free... ♪

I'm here if you need me but not when you don't.

♪

[WHOOSHING]

♪ Mother... ♪

Thank you for today.

If you would've asked me yesterday if I thought I would ever want to do magic again, the answer would have been a big "hell no."

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

But it only takes one person in your life to change the way you see everything.

Love.

Magic.

Motherhood.

I'm sorry I freaked out a little.

It's just, you didn't plan for a baby.

But neither did I.

Well, at least not right now.

Life is what happens when you're making other plans.

♪ Oh, my dear sister ♪

♪ Oh, will you run away with me? ♪

Oh, wait, what-what is it?

It's kicking.

- [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

- [WHISPERS]: Whoa.

Mel, if-if you have this baby today, tomorrow, come what may...

...

I'm here for it.

♪ Oh, I'm so hungry. ♪

[SNARLING, CLICKING]