Penny sat in the dimly lit room, staring at the photographs on the sideboard in the corner of the living room. She had tears in her eyes as she looked at a photograph taken at Christmas the previous year. It was a photograph of a young woman in her late 20s, with three young girls; Penny's daughter Patty, and 3 Granddaughters, Prue, Piper and Phoebe.

Patty had been killed by a water demon just two months after this photograph was taken. Since then Penny had been looking after the three girls aged 8, 5 and 3.

Penny had been so busy looking after and worrying about her Granddaughters that she hadn't had much time to think about herself, or time to grieve. But grieving wasn't something that came easily to Penny in the first place. She would much rather vanquish a demon or a warlock, than deal with her own feelings.

Wiping her eyes with her hand she got up from the couch and walked round the living room turning off the lights and blowing out the candles. As she turned to blow out the final candle a draft blew it out instead. Feeling a presence in the air around her she braced herself for an attack.

Bright white orbs began to swirl in front of her, and Penny felt a feeling of peace and calm wash over her. As the swirls hastened in pace, a solid form began to appear in the centre. As the white orbs disappeared, Penny gasped in shock, surprise and in recognition of the person who stood before her.

'Patty!' She said in a disbelieving whisper.

Patty nodded and smiled, her ghostly form becoming more corporeal.

'Yes Mom, it's me.'

Penny sank on to the arm chair in silence before looking again at her daughter.

'B..bu..but how? I mean you're dead, I buried you? I had to identify your body!' She exclaimed. 'God, I must be dreaming.' She added.

'No Mom, you're not dreaming. I'm real, and I am here now.' Patty replied, also sitting down on the couch in front of her Mother. 'I'm sorry but I don't have much time to be with you and to explain this, but there's something I need to talk to you about.'

Penny nodded, still disbelieving, but she realised that in her 40 odd years of being a witch, things happen for a reason.

'Mom, when I died.. I.. I.. I was pregnant.' Patty said slowly. The topic also clearly pained her. It was difficult accepting she was dead, but talking about it made it even harder. 'I didn't realise I was pregnant, but obviously when I died the baby died too.'

'Oh Patty, I didn't know.' Penny said, trying to take in what her daughter was telling her.

'I know this is a lot to take in, but there's more to come. Once I died, the elders met with me. Turns out they knew about the pregnancy, and what's going to come next.' Patty explained.

'What do you mean? What's going to come next?' Penny asked, exhausted, confused and emotionally drained.

'There's a prophecy which predicted that a baby would be born after death, and that baby is going to be the most powerful witch alive. She has all three powers, telekinesis, the power to freeze time, and premonition, plus many other powers that we can't even begin to comprehend. The elders say that she's the source of all good.'

'Wow Patty, the mother of the Charmed ones and the Source of all good, you did good didn't you?' Penny said with a smile.

Both women gave a small laugh, and it felt as if nothing had happened, like Patty was still alive.

Penny's expression changed with confusion as she absorbed the information she had just received.

'Is Sam her father?' Penny expressed her confusion.

Sam had been Patty's Whitelighter, a guardian angel for witches, and her lover. He fell to pieces when Patty died and Penny hadn't seen him since.

'Yes he is her father, and the elders know this, but it's not a problem on this occasion; however, he can't know anything about her.'

'Why not? I mean if he's her father and they know this, and it's not a problem, why would he not be allowed to know?' Penny asked.

'I don't know, they wouldn't tell me. But what I can tell you is that they don't want anything to affect her up-bringing.' Patty explained further when she saw the quizzical look on her mother's face. 'I'm here to deliver the baby to you. She's to be brought up with the girls, the Charmed ones. Apparently her powers grow along with theirs.' Patty explained finally.

'Well, you know me Patty, I'm not one to stand in the way of progress.' Penny replied excitedly. 'So where is she?'

As soon as Penny said it another swirl of orbs appeared around Patty, only smaller this time. Within seconds a beautiful baby girl appeared in her mother's arms. She was sound asleep, wrapped in a yellow blanket with an intricate symbol on one corner. The triquetra.

'Oh Patty she's beautiful.' Penny whispered as she peered down at her new Granddaughter. 'But there's just one problem I can see with this. You've been dead for just over 8 months, how am I going to explain this to people?'

'Well the elders already thought of that. They've cast a sort of charm on her that means that when people see her they believe that her date of birth and my date of death are reversed. So her date of birth now becomes the 28th of February 1978, and my date of death is the 3rd of November 1978.' Patty said as she handed the baby to her Grandmother.

Patty looked longingly at her baby as Penny shushed her when she began to stir.

'Are you ok with this?' Penny asked, feeling her daughter's pain.

Patty shrugged slightly and sighed.

'I know you'll take great care of her. And now I must leave. I've come to do what I had to do.' She replied, trying to convince herself that it was right to leave.

She got up from the sofa and stood in the middle of the room. But Penny had one more question before she left.

'Wait Patty, what's her name?' She asked.

Patty gave a knowing smile before answering.

'Penny, her name is Penny.' And with that she disappeared once again in a swirl of white orbs, leaving Penny and Penny junior alone in the living room.