Synopsis of Forget Me... Not

Written by Brandee Mode

Before I begin the summary, I want to explain a bit about the antagonists of the episode. They are called The Cleaners. I say antagonist instead of *bad guy* because The Cleaners are similar to the Angel Of Death in the sense that they are technically neither good, nor evil. The Cleaners exist to protect magic. If something happens to expose magic, The Cleaners arrive and erase the existence of whatever caused the exposure and clears the memory of the people who saw it. After this episode aired, it spawned many debates about why The Cleaners did not fix the things that went wrong in the season 3 finale, "All Hell Breaks Loose." The Cleaners wear white suits.

The show starts at Halliwell manor, as Paige orbs in with Phoebe and Piper holding Wyatt. The sisters appear to be full of panic and desperate to escape someone. Paige says they "don't have much time, they'll follow us" and Phoebe asks how to stop them. Piper holds her son tightly and says they "can't just let them take Wyatt." But it's too late, The Cleaners arrive and inform the sisters that it is "pointless to run" but Piper angrily insists they can't have Wyatt. Cleaner1 becomes impatient. Cleaner2 holds out his arms. Wyatt disappears from Piper's arms and reappears in Cleaner2's arms. All three sisters start toward The Cleaners but Cleaner1 uses telekinesis to flip them backward. Piper calls out to Leo for help. Leo quickly orbs in. Cleaner1 is relieved to see an elder; he says, "perhaps you can explain it to her." Piper insists that Leo do something. Leo hesitantly admits that he can't, no one can stop The Cleaners. Piper's emotions seem to change from anger to fear. She begs The Cleaners not to take Wyatt, claiming "he's just a baby" and she promises not to let it happen again. The Cleaners say they "can't take that risk" but tell her not to worry because none of them will remember this anyway. Cleaner1 waves his hand and the room begins to change. The nursery changes back into a closet. A picture of the sisters with Wyatt changes and Wyatt disappears from the picture. The playpen disappears. The Cleaners and Wyatt disappear. The sisters and Leo suddenly look calm, but a little disoriented. Piper and Leo are surprised to find themselves standing next to each other. Neither of them knows why Leo is there, so he orbs out. The sisters don't remember what they were talking about. Phoebe and Paige realize they are tired and start to go upstairs to bed. Piper looks around the room; she feels like she is forgetting something but decides it must not be that important and goes upstairs to bed.

The next morning, Piper is in the kitchen, preparing a breakfast tray for Phoebe. Paige enters carrying one of her shirts, trying to clean a stain. She tells Piper that she spilled coffee on herself yesterday without realizing it. Paige complains about the cost to get the shirt dry-cleaned. Piper urges Paige to quit her job since the "pay's lousy" and the "boss is a sexist pig." Piper points out that it's "just a temp job anyway." Paige explains to Piper that she wants a life of her own, outside of magic and she "can't quit every time a job starts sucking." Paige also points out that she stayed with the dog-walking job and ended up helping someone. Piper thinks the odds of that happening again are low.

PAIGE: "Sometimes you've got to ride a lot of horses on the merry-go-round before you find what you're looking for."

Piper subconsciously corrects Paige, that she means carousel. A merry-go-round has lots of animals and a carousel just has horses. Both women are confused why Piper would know something like that. Piper thinks she hears a baby cry, but passes it off as a hallucination. Piper finishes the breakfast tray and Paige asks how long Phoebe is planning to stay in the basement. Piper responds that Phoebe will be down there "long enough to be sure she doesn't shove her tongue down the throat of another delivery guy."

Paige and Piper go down to the basement and see Phoebe sitting at desk she has set up. Phoebe has a band-aid on her forehead. She is relieved the delivery guy didn't sue for sexual harassment. Paige points out that Phoebe was just channeling the delivery guy's emotions. Phoebe says the point is that she has to figure out how this new power works, or accept that she needs to live the rest of her life as a shut-in. By now, Paige and Piper have neared the bottom of the stairs and Phoebe tells them to stay behind the yellow line. Paige and Phoebe look down and see a yellow line at the bottom of the stairs. Phoebe tells them to stay back so she won't channel their feelings. Paige asks about the injury on Phoebe's forehead, but Phoebe doesn't remember it happening.

Paige and Phoebe say they are not feeling any strong emotions and Phoebe allows them to approach. Phoebe does pick up on one of them feeling insecure. Piper admits the she feels "a little off." Phoebe looks at the tray of food Piper has brought. It has toast with the crust cut off, eggs cut into tiny pieces, apple sauce and milk. Phoebe tells Piper that she is "not in second grade." Piper says the milk is for strong bones. Paige asks what's up with Piper and mentions the carousel, "hearing babies" and now milk. Before they can discuss anything further, Phoebe's cell phone rings. It is Elise calling from work. Phoebe tries to say she can't come to work due to illness but Elise is angry and insists Phoebe come to work or Phoebe will be fired. Phoebe doesn't understand why Elise is angry, just that it has something to do with yesterday. As Paige and Phoebe leave for work, Piper calls after them, reminding her sisters to take their coats.

Paige is at her temp job, answering phone calls when a female co-worker (named Flo) walks past. She is crying and when Paige asks what happened, she tells Paige that she just got fired. Paige gets up to talk to the woman, asking for details, hoping she can help. Flo seems irritated with Paige but explains that she was in the boss's office (Mr. Stewick) and he said if Flo didn't go out with him, she would be fired. Flo said no and he told her to pack her belongings. Flo says it's her word against his. Paige says she would have gone in with Flo, if Flo had asked her. Flo angrily says she asked Paige to go with her yesterday and assumes that she was not important enough for Paige to keep her promise. Paige is shocked and swears she would remember promising something like that. Mr. Stewick approaches and rudely tells Paige to sit her "pretty ass back down and answer the damn phone" then he walks away.

Leo orbs to P3 and finds Chris in the back room lying on a couch, wearing a t-shirt and boxer shorts underwear. Chris is startled and grabs his pants to hold in front of himself. Leo is irritated that Chris has been drinking beer. Leo tells Chris he is supposed to be "getting to know" his new charge, (a blonde witch named Natalie). That's when she enters, wearing just an over-sized shirt. Natalie seems a bit embarrassed and says hi to Leo. Chris reminds Leo that he is the one who wanted Chris to have another charge. Leo snaps that he was supposed to be protecting her. Natalie automatically confirms that "he WAS using protection." Leo points out what Chris did was "against the rules" and Chris responds that Leo is "one to talk." Natalie excuses herself so the guys can talk in private. Chris claims he was "just having a little fun" because he doesn't have "anything pressing to do." Leo sarcastically asks, if Chris has nothing to do, then why did he come back from the future. Chris can't answer, because he forgot why he came back. Leo hears a baby and says he'll "deal with this later" then he orbs out.

Phoebe hesitantly enters the newspaper office and discovers most of her co-workers have various injuries, one even has crutches. They all look angry when they see her. A man named Frank stops Phoebe and tells her that no matter what Elise says to Phoebe, he has always wanted to do what Phoebe did. Phoebe has no idea what Frank is talking about, but thanks him for his support. Phoebe gets to Elise's office and discovers she looks very angry and has a large bruise around her eye. Phoebe tries to ask what is going on, but Elise cuts her off. Elise explains that she wanted to talk to Phoebe alone before any lawyers get involved. Elise makes it clear that Phoebe would have already been fired if it weren't for Phoebe dating the owner of the newspaper.

ELISE: "I won't pretend the only reason you're still working here is because you're an asset to the paper. But what the hell came over you yesterday?!"

Elise says there are more workers who stayed home due to their injuries and many of them want to file lawsuits. Elise calms down a little and asks Phoebe if there is a "reasonable explanation" for her behavior the day before. Phoebe claims to have no idea what Elise is talking about. Out of frustration, Elise grabs Phoebe by the shoulders, causing Phoebe to have a premonition of what happened: everyone at work (including Phoebe) is fighting, hitting and kicking each other, then the premonition ends. Phoebe is shocked. She quickly fakes a cough and pretends to go home sick.

As Piper stands near her car looking at a list, she hears a baby cry. She turns to see a man holding a crying infant. He is trying to calm the child and hold his grocery bag. Piper walks over to the man and tells him to bounce the baby and make a shushing sound. The baby calms down. The man is grateful for the help. Piper says the shushing sound reminds babies of being in the womb. He comments that she "must be a terrific mom" but Piper admits she doesn't have any kids. She always wanted them though and she used to baby-sit a lot. Piper seems a bit saddened as she walks away.

After Piper returns home, she is surprised to find Leo standing in her bedroom, staring at the walk-in closet that used to be the nursery. He looks confused. Piper starts to remind him that she asked him to stay away so she could get used to the idea of being single again. He apologizes and starts to say something, but he pauses to look at the closet and tells her never mind. Leo starts to leave but Piper recognizes that he is confused about something and asks what he was going to say. She asks if he has been hearing things. They each admit that they have both been hearing babies. Piper wonders if it is just regret that they never had a child together. She asks why they didn't. Leo isn't sure, he knows they both wanted children, but assumes it "wasn't meant to be." The tender moment between them is interrupted by Phoebe yelling from the attic that they need Piper's assistance. Piper tells Leo it's time for him to leave, but Leo thinks they might need him in case of another demon attack. Piper reminds him that he is not their whitelighter anymore, it's Chris's job now. Leo explains that Chris is busy because he gave Chris "another witch to look after yesterday." Piper states that they will just have to handle things alone and she walks out of the room. Leo looks sad.

Piper enters the attic to find Phoebe and Paige in mid-conversation. Phoebe has explains the got the injury on her forehead from starting a riot at work. Phoebe pauses because she is getting "a really emotional vibe" from Piper, who quickly steps back from Phoebe. Piper obviously doesn't want to talk about it and doesn't mention that Leo was there. Phoebe knows the vision she had was from yesterday. Piper is surprised to learn that Paige also has missing memories. Paige gives a brief explanation of what happened with Flo. Piper admits she doesn't remember much about yesterday, most of the day is "kind of a blur." They all realize that someone has been "messing" with them, so they would forget these things. Piper points out that the things they have discovered they don't remember seem random and wonders what the connection is. Paige announces she has already written a spell "to fill in the blanks." They ask Piper if she is OK with it, considering the last time they did a spell on her memory. Piper confirms that they need to do it to find out what's going on. Paige reads the spell:

Moments lost make witches wonder
Warlock's plot or demon's plunder?
If this is not a prank,
Help us to fill in the blanks

The room begins to spin as the sisters stand there. The room stills and the sisters are now wearing the same clothes they had on at the beginning of the show. They realize Paige's shirt does not have a coffee stain and Phoebe is not wearing a band-aid. Then suddenly, they all hear a baby cry. You can see the shock on Piper's face right before she runs from the room. Phoebe and Paige quickly follow her. Downstairs, Piper picks up Wyatt from his play-pen. The show goes to commercial.

When the show returns, it appears to be a few minutes later because they now have a newspaper and realize that the spell did not just return their memories, it started they day over as yesterday. Piper feels horrible that she could forget her own son. Wyatt is crying and Phoebe starts channeling his feelings, explaining that Wyatt feels sad. They decide they "need to talk" so Piper puts Wyatt back in the play-pen and tries to soothe him with a stuffed animal. Wyatt doesn't calm down and Phoebe explains that Wyatt hates that toy because it's "yucky and crusty and gross." Phoebe explains that Wyatt wants to watch TV. This makes Piper feel like a failure at being a mother. Paige urges Piper that they have bigger problems than media influence right now. Piper reluctantly turns on the TV and sets the channel to a children's program. Wyatt stops crying. The sisters walk into the next room. Wyatt blinks and the TV changes channels. He blinks again and the channel changes to a show with 2 dragons flying around the sky.

Paige tells the others that whatever caused them to forget must be what happens next so they need to re-live the day to find out what happened. Piper is worried the same thing will happen and they will end up without Wyatt again. Paige says now that they know about it, they will be more observant and watch for clues. Phoebe is unsure how they will know what clues are important. Paige figures everything is import because it's all connected to Wyatt in some way; they just need to figure out HOW it's connected to him. Paige will go back to work and wait for someone to spill coffee on her and Phoebe should go back to work too. Phoebe doesn't want to start a riot and lose her job. Paige reminds her it's the only way to save Wyatt.

In the other room, Wyatt blinks again and one of the dragons disappears from the screen. Orbs flow from the TV, float outside and form into a (huge) dragon. Wyatt is happy and the dragon pushes open the French doors with its nose. A door hits a table, causing the vase on it to fall. The dragon flies away. Piper and the others hear the vase hit the floor and go to check on him. Paige assumes the wind blew them open, but Piper says the doors were locked. Paige tells them to remember that, it could be important. Paige asks if Piper will be OK by herself, but Piper knows she doesn't have a choice. Phoebe wishes she and Paige could trade destinations. On the way out, Paige tells Piper to call the minute anything weird happens. Piper realizes that the TV is on a different channel now.

At P3, Chris is telling Leo that he doesn't have time for another charge and asks why Leo wants him to watch over another witch anyway. Leo claims he wants to see what Chris can handle. Chris thinks Leo is just trying to get him away from the sisters because he doesn't trust Chris. Leo points out that when he was a whitelighter, he had other charges too. Chris states that he traveled from the future with the sole purpose of protecting Wyatt. Leo is disbelieving. Chris gets fed up and starts to leave, when a beautiful blonde witch enters. She introduces herself as Natalie and Chris just stares at her for a moment. Then Chris turns to Leo and allows, "maybe just one more."

Phoebe has arrived and work hesitantly enters the main office area. Before Phoebe can get to her private office, Frank and Elise enter the room. They are having an argument. Elise has made a decision as editor and Frank doesn't like the way she did it. Elise rudely tells him that she doesn't care what he thinks. As they walk closer to Phoebe, she channels Frank's anger. Phoebe immediately makes a fist and hits Elise right in the eye. Elise staggers and falls onto the mailman. Frank starts laughing and Phoebe comes out of it. The mailman thinks Frank is laughing at him, so he hits Frank. Soon everyone starts hitting and kicking. Phoebe tries to get them to calm down, but ends up getting pushed into a piece of furniture, resulting with a cut on Phoebe's forehead.

At Paige's job, she is talking to Flo, who is obviously upset. Flo explains that the boss (Mr Stewick) had been asking her to go on a date with him ever since she started working there. Flo admits she finally agreed to go out with him, but it wasn't much of a date because:

FLO: "He tried to grab my ass, I threw a drink in his face and I've avoided him ever since."

Flo continues that Mr. Stewick has asked to meet with her the next morning in his office. Flo is worried that Mr. Stewick is going to fire her and she asks Paige to go to the meeting with her. Paige immediately agrees to go, then wonders why she would forget something like that. A male co-worker nearby, about to walk past Paige and Flo, when the dragon flies past the window. The man is startled and spills his coffee all over the front of Paige's shirt. Paige instantly remembers this was something she had forgotten as the man tries to apologize and explain he thought he saw something outside. Paige urges him to explain and the man hesitantly says that it looked like a dragon. Paige looks out the window and the dragon is far away now, but Paige does see it breathe fire.

At home, Piper is looking through the Book Of Shadows when Wyatt starts to cry. She tries to comfort him with a stuffed toy but then remembers that it's the one he hates. She picks him up and he stops crying. To Piper's surprise, she and Wyatt suddenly orb out.

Paige arrives at the newspaper office and finds Phoebe in the middle of a brawl. Paige grabs Phoebe and tells her to snap out of it. She tells Phoebe there is "a dragon loose in the city" and the two of them quickly leave the office.

Piper and Wyatt appear outside near a tunnel. Piper's cell phone rings; it's Paige calling to ask where Piper is. Piper explains that Wyatt just orbed her to the Presidio tunnel. Paige and Phoebe immediately orb to the tunnel also. Piper is concerned about orbing where people can see them, but before they can discuss anything, a car comes out of the tunnel on fire. The dragon emerges from the tunnel right after and flies over them and out of sight.

Back at home, Piper puts a band-aid on Phoebe's forehead. Phoebe winces but explains she is feeling Piper's pain, not her own. Piper gets irritated and tells Phoebe that since she hasn't "verbalized guilt" that Phoebe should let Piper FEEL the emotion before Phoebe starts to ANALYZE the emotion. Piper admits she does feel guilty for putting Wyatt "in front of the electronic baby-sitter." Phoebe and Paige don't know what Piper is talking about. Piper explains that Wyatt was watching a TV show about dragons after he "magically changed the channel." Paige is surprised that Wyatt "conjured a dragon." They comment that Wyatt is showing he has "serious powers" and Piper is worried what else Wyatt will do. Paige concludes that all their memories relating to the dragon were erased. Piper wonders who would do that. Phoebe says that Wyatt "made a little magical mess" and is confident that will be able to fix the situation. Suddenly they hear a male voice offering to help. They turn to see The Cleaners standing there.

The Cleaners explain who they are and what they do. The sisters quickly realize The Cleaners are there to take Wyatt. Cleaner1 says they won't have to take Wyatt if the sisters can "eliminate the exposure risk." Piper is angry and tries to blow them up but just like at the beginning of the episode, but Cleaner1 *catches* it and the explosion dissipates in his hand. He claims to understand Piper's anger, but insists they are a "neutral party" and her son has "become a problem." Cleaner1 continues that since the sisters have had success in covering up their magic in the past, they have decided to give them ONE chance to "take care of the problem" but if they can't then "we'll have to take care of it for you." Piper insists that The Cleaners can't make them forget everything. The Cleaners remain irritatingly calm and explain that the sisters might have a "distant echo" of a memory, or a sense of déjà vu, but just like everyone else, they will "pass it off as absent-mindedness." The Cleaners disappear in a swirl of lights.

Paige comments that at least they know what happened before. Phoebe points out they know they are re-living the day but The Cleaners don't seem to know. Piper gets an idea and quickly goes upstairs, telling the others to start looking in the book for an entry on dragons and to keep their eyes on Wyatt.

Piper enters the attic and immediately calls for Leo, admitting that Wyatt is in trouble. Leo instantly orbs in, looking concerned. Piper says she doesn't have time to explain and asks Leo how to stop The Cleaners. Leo doesn't understand why The Cleaners would be after Wyatt. Piper admits that Wyatt conjured a dragon. Leo asks how Piper could "let that happen." Piper becomes angry; telling Leo that he is the one who took off and why wasn't Leo watching Wyatt from his "lofty perch." Leo calms down a bit and says that is not what he meant. Piper lowers her voice and tells him she is beating herself up about this and she doesn't need it from him too. Leo apologizes and admits he is scared. Piper is scared that she is about to lose their son and she doesn't know what to do.

LEO: "Piper, if I could..."
PIPER: "No, don't say it. Don't say anything about Elders or rules. Because you know what? He is your son, Leo. There are no rules."
LEO: "I'm telling you. The Cleaners are empowered by both good and evil. You can't stop them."
PIPER: "There has to be a way."
LEO: "You don't understand. There isn't. Cleaners have the power to rewrite history. You can't fight that."

Piper becomes emotional, stating that she can't do it; she "can not lose Wyatt too." Leo tries to assure her that she just has to find a way and suggests that instead of a magical solution, they might need a maternal solution.

[He tells her there is no way to fight The Cleaners, then turns right around and says that all she has to do is find a way. Talk about contradicting yourself.]

In the attic, Paige is searching the book and Phoebe is making a potion. Piper enters and they ask if Leo was able to help. Piper admits she isn't sure if he can help or not. Paige informs Piper that dragons must pre-date the book and they need to get a piece of the dragon for the potion. Since they didn't have anything to go on, they just made the strongest potion they could think of. Suddenly Phoebe bends over in pain and claims she is feeling a lot of pain and fear from "out there." They realize it must be the dragon causing mass fear. Piper tells the others to get the potion, while she turns to Wyatt. She asks Wyatt "what do you say we go find the dragon?"

The scene changes to a street. It's dark outside now, people are running and yelling in fear. Most of the cars are either upside down or on fire. Phoebe, Paige, Piper and Wyatt all orb onto the street. Everyone is too freaked out to notice the orbing. Phoebe thinks it looks like a "war zone" and they quickly see that the dragon has made a giant nest using both metal and wood debris. Paige calls for one of the dragon's scales. A scale from the dragon's tail orbs off the dragon, waking it up. The dragon roars in pain and stands up. Paige is afraid and wants to leave. Wyatt smiles. Piper gets an idea and hands Wyatt to Phoebe, telling her to "make sure he sees me." Piper runs toward the dragon, stopping about halfway there. Piper yells up to the dragon, calling it a lizard and dares it to "come get me." The dragon spreads it's large wings and flies into the air. Paige thinks Piper is nuts, but Phoebe realizes that Wyatt is not smiling anymore. The dragon flies closer to Piper and Wyatt raises his arm. Piper closes her eyes but just before the dragon reaches her, it disappears in a swirl of orbs, causing Piper to fall down backward.

Piper gets up. Paige is confused but they explain it was the "greatest power there is, the mother and child bond." Paige is astonished that Wyatt is the one who vanquished the dragon. The sisters begin to discuss how to "clean up this mess" but they are interrupted to find The Cleaners have arrived. Piper complains that they did what The Cleaners asked – they "took care of the dragon." The Cleaners say the sisters did not take care of the exposure risk and ask for "the boy." Paige says "oh no you don't" and orbs the four of them back to the house.

Now we are at the same scene from the beginning of the episode. The Cleaners appear at the house and the scene progresses similarly to the way it did before, but this time, Piper does not call for Leo. The Cleaners take Wyatt and Piper tells them "NO!" and lunges forward but Cleaner1 uses telekinesis to throw all three of the sisters backward. The house again changes to remove all evidence of Wyatt; then The Cleaners disappear, taking Wyatt with them. Afterward the sisters realize their spell protected them and they still remember everything that's happened.

In the attic, Paige tries to scry for The Cleaners with no success. Piper suggests that instead of trying to stop The Cleaners, they should "expose OUR magic and force them to deal with us."

PHOEBE: "Yeah, fine, except, if we do that, what's to stop them from erasing us?" PIPER: "They wouldn't dare. So... let's give them something to clean up."

Phoebe and Paige orb to a television station during a live broadcast. Phoebe grabs the weatherman and levitates both of them high into the air. Paige calls for the newscaster's jacket and it orbs to her. Phoebe has returned to ground level and turns toward the camera. She announces that to "see more magic" they should go to the Golden Gate Bridge and the picture changes to show Piper at the Golden Gate Bridge. Piper says the *Object Of Objection* spell and the bridge vanishes. Piper looks at the camera and suggests people "take an alternate route to work" the next day.

The Cleaners arrive at the house, where the sisters are waiting for them. The Cleaners think the sisters have lost their minds. The Cleaners are also surprised that the sisters remember and threaten to erase them. Piper tells them if they are "truly neutral" they can't erase the sisters.

PIPER: "If you get rid of us, you tip the balance of power from good to evil. Now, that's hardly being neutral, now, is it? You will give me my son back, or I swear to you, the only thing you will be doing for the next fifty years is cleaning up after us."
CLEANER 1: "If we do return him, how do you know you'll be able to control him?"
PIPER: "I'm his mother. If anybody can, I can."

The Cleaners give each other a look of exasperation and return everything the way it should be, including Wyatt. Piper picks up Wyatt. Phoebe steps toward one of the cleaners and asks if they could erase the riot she caused at work. Cleaner1 waves his hand and says it's done then both Cleaners disappear. Phoebe takes Wyatt from Paige, very excited. Phoebe asks Paige if she is going to keep her job. Paige says yes, but only long enough to "see what happens next."

The next morning *Flo* is in the office with Mr. Stewick. He tells her that if she doesn't make it "worth my while" he might find her performance "lacking" and she begs to keep her job. He says he is giving her an opportunity and *Flo* becomes seductive. The boss is surprised but pleased. *Flo* asks if he is ready to "come and get it" and when Mr. Stewick approaches, *Flo* acts like she is going to kiss him, but instead she orbs a flowerpot, hitting him in the head. It is revealed that it is actually Paige, who had used her whitelighter power, to glamour into looking like Flo. Paige opens the door and the real Flo is waiting outside the office. Paige claims to have heard the boss threaten Flo. Then Paige whispers to "just go with it" and Flo thanks Paige for her help.

Leo orbs to the back room at P3 and finds Chris (fully dressed) putting on his shoes. (Natalie is not there and there is no beer bottle this time.) Leo asks why he isn't getting to know his new charge. Chris says he has decided to go back to what he "originally said" which is that he doesn't have time for her. Leo starts to argue with him, but Chris interrupts, telling Leo that whether he believes Chris or not, he came back to protect Wyatt and the sisters only. Leo agrees to reassign Natalie, then he orbs out. Chris sighs.

The episode ends by showing us Piper at the house. She is sitting in a rocking chair holding Wyatt and smiling as she watches him.