Summary of Reckless Abandon
Written by Trish
Prue looking for slides ask Piper about them. Piper tells her they are by the TV. Prue tells her about her project and the possibility of going to New York with Jack (her co-worker and boyfriend). Prue asks her about the present she is making. Piper tells her it is for their friend, Lisa Kreegers, who is having a baby shower, and that she is making it from all of them. Holding up a blanket and bear, she tells Prue she knitted them. Prue comments, "I guess this is really good practice for you, huh?" Piper asks what she means. Prue replies, "you, Dan, little Dan." Piper tells her he is the one that is moving fast, not her. They talk about her and Dan's issues with his ability to commit easily.
At the police station, Phoebe is talking with Detective Darryl Morris about helping the police as a psychic. Darryl isn't going along. She picks up his butter knife and pretends to have a premonition. She says, "Oh my God, I see blood, flesh. You had the sausage for breakfast didn't you?" Darryl tells her he hates sausage, and she replies, "Little joke." Just then Phoebe sees officers shaking a rattle in front of a crying baby's face. She asks why someone would bring a baby to the station. Darryl tells her it was abandoned. And while he is trying to finish their conversation she is going over to the baby. She gets the baby to stop crying, and notices his name is Matthew by his blanket. When she picks him up and holds him close, she gets a premonition. She sees a man taking the baby, and then a ghost zap lightening out his hand at the guy. Darryl asks if she is okay.
Back at the house Phoebe is explaining all of this to Piper. She has brought baby Matthew home, and Piper is very uneasy with him. Piper says, "Um, you know, I'm not really good with these." (Referring to baby Matthew) They talk about the premonition, and the ghost. Piper asks how she got Darryl to let her bring the baby home. Phoebe tells her that she told Darryl about the premonition, and the fact that they only have 24 hours before Social Services starts asking questions about Matthew. Prue enters commenting that her trip to New York is on the line, then she sees baby Matthew. They explain everything to her about what happened when she comments about it. Phoebe tells them that she is going to go back to the station and work with a sketch artist to help ID the man in her premonition. Prue says that she has to go back to work, but Piper states that they need diapers and stuff, so she says she will go shopping. They leave Piper along with Matthew, and she doesn't like it.
Prue is at the store and trying to get diapers from a top self. She finally does with her power, and then runs into Jack. He tells her he tracked her down from her secretary. They discuss her "family emergency", and the trip to New York. She assures him she isn't changing her mind, she really wants to go.
Piper is in the kitchen watching Dan walking with Matthew to try and calm him down. She tells him how good he is with him. Prue comes in with bags and complaining about the cost of all the stuff. It was perfect timing, Matthew needed a change, but the diapers were to small. Dan comes to the rescue with a dish towel and offers to pick up the right size on his way home. Prue leaves Piper alone with Matthew again to go back to work.
At the police station, Phoebe and Darryl are working with a sketch artist to ID the guy from her premonition. After a few tries they get it just right, and Darryl asks him to run it through the system for ID. They also get a copy and fax it to Prue, while Phoebe is talking to her. Prue recognizes him right away as Gilbert Van Lewen. She explains that Gilbert's family wanted to sell some of their art collection when his father died mysteriously the past summer. Then she remembers that his brother just died mysteriously too. Phoebe asks if she wants to go with her and Darryl to the Van Lewen's. At that moment Jack is outside her office getting Chinese food and paying a delivery guy. She comments "Sure who wants to go to New York anyway?"
At the Van Lewen estate, Gilbert is talking to his wife Alexandra. She is upset about him abandoning Matthew. Gilbert says, "I had to, he would have gotten him tomorrow at the Christening, I know it. That's when he strikes, at the moment of greatest joy." Alexandra is expressing her disbelief when Martha (Gilbert's mother) comes in telling Gilbert he has to leave right away. The ghost appears demanding to know where the boy is, and when Gilbert won't tell him he zaps lightening at Gilbert. This causes Gilbert to go flying over the banister, killing him.
Prue arrives at the Van Lewen estate asking Phoebe and Darryl what is going on. They explain that Gilbert Van Lewen fell over the banister and died. Darryl says that the coroner is going to list it as an accident. Prue and Phoebe are doubtful that is what really happened. They say they need to see if this is Matthew's residence. Going inside Prue and Phoebe manage to slip away from Darryl and go upstairs. They enter a baby's room and discover that it is Matthew's room for sure. Alexandra enters and they try and explain why they are there, but she demands they leave.
Later that night, Prue is working on her presentation, Phoebe and Piper are taking turns searching for information on the Van Lewen family and taking care of Matthew. They discuss the whole ghost situation. Matthew still won't stop crying and go to sleep. When Phoebe tries to burp Matthew, he spits up all over Prue's presentation. Several hours later Matthew is still awake, and Prue is bathing him. Piper finally finds something about the Van Lewen's chauffeur. His name was Elias Lundy, and he disappeared suddenly just before Martha's husband died. They decide they need to talk with her about him. When Piper wakes the next morning she realizes that Dan is a real lifesaver, because he let them sleep while he cared for Matthew. Dan leaves and Prue realizes she is late for her presentation, and Phoebe asks Piper to go with her to the Van Lewen estate. They almost forget about Matthew.
Prue is at her desk when Jack comes in asking if she is ready to wow their boss. She tells him that she didn't finish the presentation, and he says that he figured, so he took the liberty to finish using her notes. He sees Matthew and they discuss that. Then their boss comes in and takes Prue out of the running for New York.
Phoebe and Piper arrive at the Van Lewen's house. They try to talk to Martha and Alexandra about where Matthew is and Elias Lundy. They show them a piece of blanket that has his name on it. The ghost shows up and demands to know where Matthew is. He tries to zap them with the lightening out of his hand, and Piper freezes it, but Elias doesn't freeze. They unfreeze the other women and try to run out of the house, but Martha gets stuck because of Elias. Elias tries to leave to follow them, but cannot because the house won't let him. Phoebe and Piper take Alexandra to P3, and they ask her if she would be more comfortable at the house with her baby. She tells them she doesn't want to take any risks. They ask her about Elias. She tells them the story; Elias was obsessed with Martha, even carved their initials in the largest oak on the property. But one day his obsession went too far and he attacked Martha. Martha's husband lured him out to that same tree and shot him in the back. He buried him on the grounds below that same tree. She talks of the men in the family dying, and they all looking like accidents. She also tells them that Gilbert didn't believe in the ghost of Elias, until he own brother died.
Jack approaches Prue as she is getting ready to leave with Matthew. He tells her that he got Caldwell, their boss, to let her go. He managed to convince him that he couldn't have done it with her. She tells him that she cannot go, and he says that he was afraid she was going to say that.
Phoebe is in the kitchen at the house making a vanquishing potion for Elias' bones. Piper comes in and tells her that Prue is on her way home. They talk about Matthew and babies in general. Then they are discussing how to vanquish Elias, either by pouring the potion over his bones or killing the object of his obsession, which is Martha. Prue arrives home and they are ready to go to the Van Lewen's. They discuss who will stay home with Matthew when the doorbell rings. It is Darryl saying that their time is up, and he doesn't want to lose his job over this. They ask him to watch Matthew for a few hours while they do this, and if they aren't back he can do what he needs to do. This convinces him, along with the fact that they dashed out right after handing him the baby.
At the Van Lewen's house, Martha is trying to keep from being zapped to death by Elias. Outside Prue and Phoebe are hunting for the bones and the tree. Piper is making her way to the house to help protect Martha. Phoebe finds the tree and the location of Elias' body in the backyard. Prue uses her power to raise bones to the top of the ground so they can vanquish him. Piper walks in to the room where Martha is just as Elias is zapping her with his lightening. She freezes it, and Elias is about to try and kill her. Prue and Phoebe start hitting Elias' bones, and he cries out in pain in the house. Realizing what they are doing, he runs to a balcony and buries his bones deep, where they cannot find them. He tries to hit them with his lightening but they run into the house. They find Piper and Martha. They tell them what happened with the bones. Martha tries to get them to leave. She thinks there is nothing else they can do. They tell her about their only other way of getting Elias to stop his wrath, which is to kill her. She ends up running and falling over the banister killing herself, even though they didn't want to kill her. This gets rid of Elias, and ends the curse.
Back at their own home, they prepare Matthew to be reunited with his mother, by bathing and dressing him. They leave to go to the police station. At the station they give Matthew back to Alexandra, and say goodbye to the baby. She asks them how she can ever thank them, and their response is to let them baby-sit every once in a while.
At P3 they are discussing Phoebe's prospects of having lots of children, and Dan's way with babies. Jack shows up, and Prue asks him why he isn't in New York. He tells her that he didn't want to go without her. They talk for a minute about kids, and then Prue asks him to dance.
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