Author's Note: Of all my Charmed projects, this one is my personal favorite. Updates will probably be sporadic at best, as I've got about a dozen other projects that I'm working on at the same time.
Coming Home
Chapter One
"Please, please, please-"
Patty didn't know what she was praying for. She'd been whispering the same words over and over for the last three minutes, and she didn't know if she was praying for the test results to be positive or negative.
The kitchen timer dinged, suddenly, and she startled at the sound. Slowly, almost reluctantly, she looked over at the bathroom counter, where all three of the tests were lined up neatly beside the sink. With a shaking hand, she reached out and picked up the first test. The single, pink line in the display window glared up at her as brightly as a neon sign. The other two tests displayed a pair of parallel lines and a plus sign, respectively, and she lined them up on the counter again, her hands still shaking.
Closing her eyes with a quiet sigh, Patty sank down onto the closed lid of the toilet. She scrubbed, tiredly, at her face with her hands, her mind whirling as she tried to think of what she was going to do, next.
She resisted the urge to reach out and grab the empty boxes from where they were sitting on the counter, reading the directions, yet again. She'd already read each of the boxes half a dozen times over; reading them again wasn't going to change the reality of the situation. No, she knew full well what the tests were saying. And they were all saying the same thing.
She was pregnant.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Patty quietly shut the bathroom door behind her and headed down the hallway, still in a daze. She was still lost in her thoughts, and she wandered into the room Prue and Piper shared, standing in the doorway and staring at the empty room for almost five minutes before she remembered that she'd actually been going downstairs.
Going down the stairs, she paused at the little table in the foyer holding a bunch of pictures of her daughters. Prue in her leotard from dance class, Piper at the zoo, with a parrot on her outstretched hand and a huge smile on her face, and Phoebe in her highchair in the kitchen, completely covered in flour and chocolate sauce. And her favorite, a group shot of the girls, beaming happily at the camera with their arms thrown around each other.
'What am I going to do?' she thought, as she stared at the photo, and then her thoughts were cut off by a shriek of laughter coming from the kitchen.
In the kitchen, she found her mother and daughters sitting at the table. Prue and Piper were working on a puzzle – with Penny's help, and the occasional, not-so-helpful effort from Phoebe.
"Mama!" Prue cried, happily, when she saw her.
In an instant, her two oldest daughters had abandoned their puzzle to run across the room and wrap their arms around her in a hug.
"Mama, come see!" Piper exclaimed, eagerly, tugging on her hand and pulling her toward the table. "See what we did?"
"It's very beautiful, sweetheart," Patty said, glancing down at the half-finished puzzle while her girls beamed at her with pride.
"We did it all by ourselves," Piper informed her, solemnly.
"Grams helped," Prue interjected, poking Piper, and Patty automatically separated the girls before a fight could break out.
"And Phoebe un-helped," Piper finished, an exasperated tone to her voice as she looked over at her little sister.
"I'm sure she did the best she could," Patty said, soothingly. "Girls, why don't you two take Phoebe into the living room and watch some television for a little while?"
"Okay!" Prue and Piper chorused, happily.
Patty watched as Prue helped Phoebe down from her chair, and the three of them dashed into the living room. Then, she sank down into one of the empty chairs with a tired sigh.
"What's wrong?" Penny asked, sharply, and Patty looked up to see her mother practically boring a hole in her with the intensity of her gaze.
"What makes you think that something's wrong?" Patty asked, weakly, and her mother fixed her with a stern look.
"Don't give me that," she said, shaking her head. "After everything we've been through, you don't think that I can't tell when something is bothering you? You're pale, you're shaking-"
"I'm pregnant," Patty interrupted her, quietly, and she could practically hear her mother's teeth click together as she snapped her mouth shut.
"You're what?" Penny said, her voice rising in alarm.
"I'm pregnant," Patty repeated, as her mother stared at her in shock.
"You didn't go back to Victor, did you?" Penny asked her, incredulously, making the name sound like a bad word.
"Mother!" Patty exclaimed, indignantly, but Penny just shrugged, nonchalantly.
"What?" she said, defensively. "The only good things that ever came from that man are sitting in our living room."
"Victor is a good man," Patty said, defending her ex-husband. "But, no, it's not Victor. It's Sam," she added, softer, a moment later.
"Your Whitelighter?" Penny demanded, incredulously, and Patty wondered just how many men named Sam that she was supposed to know.
"Yes, Mother," she said, emphatically. "Sam."
"Well, how could this happen?" Penny demanded, and before Patty could say anything, she added testily, "I know how this could happen-"
"We're in love," Patty interrupted her, ignoring the disdainful snort coming from her mother.
"And I suppose you don't care that everything about what you're doing is explicitly forbidden-" she started, but Patty cut her off.
"You think I don't know that?" she snapped, remembering just in time to keep her voice down so that the girls wouldn't hear her. "But, we can't – how do you stop yourself from falling in love with someone?"
Penny just sighed, an inscrutable expression on her face. "What are you going to do?" she finally asked.
"I don't know," Patty admitted, after a minute. "I have to tell Sam; that's the only thing I can think about, right now."
"I'll get the girls out of the house," Penny told her. "Give the two of you some privacy." Rising from her seat, she patted Patty comfortingly on the shoulder and added, "Everything is going to be all right, darling. I promise."
Patty gave her a weak smile, briefly covering her mother's hand with her own. Then, Penny disappeared into the living room, and Patty could hear her talking to the girls about going out for ice cream, and the girls' excited voices rising in response. There were a few minutes of noisy chaos as Penny got everyone ready to go out, and then the front door slammed shut, the house descending into sudden silence in their wake. Alone in the house, Patty sat in the quiet kitchen for a few minutes, just thinking.
"Sam?" she finally called out, and a few seconds later, a swirl of bright, white lights heralded his arrival.
A smile broke out across his face when he saw her, and as she looked at the man she loved so much, Patty could feel an answering smile forming in return. She tipped her head back to kiss him, as he bent down to her, her fingers lightly brushing the side of his face.
"I missed you," Sam said, as they parted. "I'm sorry I've been away so long."
"It's all right," Patty assured him. "Sam-" she added, a moment later, "I think that you should sit down."
"Is something wrong?" Sam asked, worriedly, as he took the seat she'd indicated. "Is it one of the girls?"
"The girls are fine," Patty reassured him, watching as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Sam," she began, nervously, as he looked at her, expectantly, "there's something I have to tell you."