The Charmed Gig started long before the Charmed Ones were born. Warren witches have been fighting evil for centuries while having the same relationship and everyday problems that out favourite sister witches face today. This covers the lives of the warren witches from March 1921(the time of the Speakeasy Cousins) to October 28th 1970 when Prue Halliwell is born and the Charmed generation begins.
March 1921
Patience Baxter banged her head on the dining room table in exasperation. Around her were piles of envelopes, all of which contained desperately-needed-to-be-paid bills. Yes, at the manor the bills continued to rise and the money continued to dwindle away. Her two cousins both had small part-time jobs while she kept house, but neither paid much as they were pretty flimsy jobs as it was vital that the cousins had jobs that would allow them to be up and free for demon fighting any time. Luckily, there weren't many fights that took place in any part of the manor, except the attic, so there weren't, to Patience's pure relief, many repair bills added on top of the rest. Patience was extremely grateful that her cousins were here to help, although it had been tragedy that had brought them together. Patience's Mother's death-Pamela Baxter. Her death had been at the hand of a demon. A rogue Kazi demon. Patience had successfully vanquished him, but not before he'd killed her Mother. She hadn't vanquished him in time and Patience still found it hard to forgive herself for that. Her cousins had come from across San Francisco for the funeral and had promptly moved into the manor with Patience permanently. Although she felt too awkward to admit it, she was eternally grateful for their support.
"Hello darling, tables are for sitting at, not sleeping on" Phoebe Bowen greeted her cousin and Patience realized her head was still on the table. She sat up to see her red-haired cousin stood next to her in a casual lounge, fur-trimmed blue dress. This was in complete contrast to Patience's peach suit. Suits weren't what she normally wore, they weren't really Patience's style, but for some crazed reason, they helped her focus more on mundane tasks such as the family finances. Her mother always said the clothes set the right frame of mind.
"Hi Pheebs" greeted Patience, calling her by her nickname.
"Eleven in the morning and you already seemed exhausted" Phoebe noted sympathetically.
"She's worrying about money and other mundane matters. Again" A third voice added and the two turned to see Penelope coming around the corner, resplendent in a red silk dressing gown. She took a seat next to Patience. "You've got to stop worrying so much" she told her and added with an impish smile "Or it'll give you wrinkles"
"There's only one thing to calm Patience down when it comes to monetary matters" Phoebe announced, heading to a nearby dark, wooden cabinet. She pulled out a bottle and waved it in front of the two. The sound that emitted from it proved Patience's suspicions that it was alcoholic drink in there. "And that would be" Phoebe continued as she headed back to the dining table. "A special something from our secret stash"
"Shouldn't that" Penelope started to say, pointing at the bottle, "be more well hidden?" she asked, slightly concerned at the same time that Patience's eyes widened in shock and she asked incredulously.
"At 11 am? That's absolutely terrible Phoebe!"
"But reasonable in certain situations" Phoebe replied with a smirk. "I'll be back with glasses" she left the bottle on the table and drifted into the kitchen, she came back a moment later with three glasses in her hands. She poured each of them a small drink and Patience held hers up in the air signifying a toast. The other two followed suit.
"Here's to the hope of a venture, an idea, an anything to end all our financial problems" Phoebe chinked glasses but Penelope stayed still.
"Cherie, at that point you're meant to clink glasses," Phoebe informed her but Penelope shook her head emphatically and put her glass down. She turned to her cousins with wide eyes.
"That's the answer!" She exclaimed.
"A. What is?" Patience asked
"And B" Phoebe continued "To what?"
"Drink and our money problems!" She answered in the correct order.
"You think we should forget our bills and drown ourselves in the bottle?" Patience asked sarcastically, not catching on.
"A Speakeasy!" Penelope almost yelled. "We'll turn the manor, well at least the first floor of it, into a speakeasy!"
Patience couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.
"Pen-P-P-Penny-Penelope" She said between laughs, then suddenly became sober. "That's illegal"
"But loads are doing it" Penelope argued. She wasn't going to let this go; she knew she was onto something.
"And loads aren't witches who fight evil on a weekly basis" Phoebe added, stating the obvious
"Yeah but rarely on the ground floor" Penelope argued, "It's mostly in the attic where the Book of Shadows is." She looked at both of them with desperation "We could do it, cousins, we really could." She was eager. She knew this plan would work. She knew it would be a success. And that was without her power of Premonition.
"I don't know…it's pretty risky…" Patience debated, not being won over, but apparently, Phoebe had already committed herself to the cause.
"Yeah…but think of the profit" She said "No more worrying about bills…actually having some sort of social life…no longer relying on those useless jobs alone"
"Why keep the jobs at all?" Penelope asked with a wild smile.
"You can't quit. You have to keep up a front, a pretence" Patience told her and Penelope smiled a sly smile as she turned to look at her younger cousin.
"Does that mean you're in?" She asked and Patience sighed.
"Don't talk about it like that. It makes it sound like a gangster game…" Penelope started to say that it sort of was but Phoebe stopped her in time. She figured that wouldn't be the best way to win Patience over,.
Patience looked between the two of them, from one cousin to the other and sighed in submission. She put her head in hands and murmured through her palms "Alright, lets do it"
"Yes!" Penelope exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and looking around the manor in eagerness from where she was stood.
"Come on girls we've got a lot of planning to do. The Manor is to become The Speakeasy"
"I hope I'm not going to regret this…" Patience murmured.