Disclaimer:
I do not own Charmed or any of its established characters. Any non-canon characters and situations are of my own creation.
Author's Note:
THIS EPISODE IS ONLY ABOUT PHOEBE AND COOP'S THREE DAUGHTERS. There is already an episode about Piper and Leo's children, and an episode about Paige and Henry's children is in the works.
Episode 1x02:
"The Write Kind of Love"
A golden light poured through the windows of the second Halliwell residence, illuminating the dining room with a warm, sun-kissed glow. At the end of the table sat a blonde-haired girl. She was snuggled up in a pink and fluffy dressing-gown with an almost-finished bowl of cereal on the table in front of her and had a book held up to her face. It was as if the Nymphs had taken extra care today and even outdone their regular duties, as the blooming flowers which sat in a tall vase on the dining room table released a pleasant fragrance which filled the girl's lungs and lifted her spirits. The figure was of Charlotte Halliwell, the half-witch half-cupid middle child of Phoebe Halliwell. The picture-perfect household was hard to imagine in any other way that wasn't sheer perfection. Even the fact of an earthquake rippling through San Francisco a few hours before hadn't hindered the beauty and atmosphere of the Halliwell household. The next generation of Halliwell witches had been gifted with an easy life that was, for the most part, free from evil and magical mayhem. With a rose-tinted world such as this, it was hard for them to contemplate the idea that anything could go wrong, and it was so easy for them to believe that it would stay perfect forever. How wrong they were.
A dark-haired girl entered the dining room and headed towards Charlotte but something caught her eye and she stopped suddenly. She turned to face a portrait that was hung on the wall, slightly askew. "There you go, Grams," the girl smiled as she fixed the frame so it was centred on the wall. She made her way to the table and flopped into a chair next to Charlotte and yawned.
"Tired, Grace?" Charlotte asked her younger sister.
"Yeah, I hardly got any sleep last night."
"How come? The earthquake didn't last that long," Charlotte noted, her face still buried into her book.
"Oh, I'm not talking about that! I'm on about Penny! I don't think she could have had sex any louder last night!"
"Ugh, I know, right?" Charlotte agreed, finally removing herself from her book and hastily slapping it down on the table.
"I think I'm scarred for life," Grace sighed, "the thought of her and … what was his name?"
"Not a clue-"
"The thought of them two at it like rabbits goes through me," Grace grimaced, "I swear, with the amount of guys she brings home a week they must think we're running a brothel! I heard enough last night to put me off sex forever."
"HEARD? Ha! Try being an empath! I FELT it!" the blonde cringed and shuddered.
"Ooh, unlucky, sis," Grace said, smiling awkwardly. "Oh dear, do you think mom felt it as well?"
"If she didn't feel it she definitely heard it!" Charlotte laughed. "Are mom and dad still in bed?"
"Yeah, they're having a lie-in today. Mom's working from home," the younger witch answered.
"Morning!" a voice exclaimed, and in walked the eldest of Phoebe's daughters, Penelope 'Penny' Halliwell. She was dressed in a red frilly midriff-exposing top with tight-fitting jeans and pair of high-heeled shoes. She smiled at her two younger siblings, "Sleep well, you two? Before the earthquake intervened, at least?"
Charlotte and Grace quickly shot each other an awkward glance. "Oh yeah, we slept just fine last night. How about you, Penny? Did you have a good night last night?" Grace said slyly, looking up at her sister with a strangely enthusiastic smile that stretched from ear-to-ear.
The eldest witch playfully glared at her sister before a beaming smile spread across her lips. "As a matter of fact I had a great night."
The middle sister looked Penny up-and-down and smirked, "So, why're you all dolled up? Are you off out with…" she turned to her younger sibling with a puzzled look across her face, "what was his name again?" Grace shrugged.
Penny's playful glare intensified. "Cute – and for your information his name is…" she paused for a second and cast her gaze upwards, trying to remember the guy's name, "Rico! Rico has gone and I am off out to a photo shoot – two, actually." Penny nodded towards the book on the table in front of Charlotte, "Ah, so you're reading mom's book? How far have you read into it?"
"Uhh, Clay has just left the Urn at the auction house to be sold off and the Guardian is after him," Charlotte answered.
"Is that all you've gotten up to? We've had it for two days already. I'm up to where Belthazor has just realised he's in love with Faye and she can't bring herself to vanquish him."
"Ha, I'm passed you both," Grace said gleefully, "I'm reading about how the Angel of Death is after Giles –obviously Miles - because Faye won't let him die."
"Spoiler, much?" Charlotte said, clearly annoyed.
"Oh, please. We all know the stories, they're in the Book of Shadows for cryin' out loud!" Grace retorted.
"Yeah, you're right! These stories are based on mom's past loves before dad… Hmm…" A devious smile sprung across Penelope's face.
"What are you getting at?" Charlotte inquired.
"Well, why do we have to read the stories when we have access to the real thing? Follow me!" the elder witch spun on her heel and made for the stairs. Grace and Charlotte shot at each other a confused look before following their sister to her room.
"Penny, slow down! What are you planning?" Grace called after her.
"Simple! We conjure a little show! Instead of reading about mom's previous loves, we could just watch!"
"And which part of this doesn't scream 'Personal Gain'?" Charlotte pointed out.
"It's not personal gain…" Penny trailed off, thinking of an excuse, "it would be a way for us to learn from out mother's magical mistakes so we don't make them too – and the less mistakes we make, the more good we can do," she grinned.
"I'm all for that," Grace chimed in.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? There could be consequences," warned Charlotte.
"Not with the right wording," Penny replied, pulling out a pen and pad of paper from her dresser drawer. She started scribbling a few ideas onto the pad and then handed it over to Grace.
The youngest sister raised an eyebrow, "You think that'll work? We need to include what we're gonna see the past loves on, I doubt a vision is gonna just float in mid-air for us… have you got any clear surfaces we could use?"
Penny looked around, slightly embarrassed at her cluttered room, "Uh, no… but," she reached to the top of her wardrobe and pulled down a huge piece of paper, "maybe this could work?" she suggested as she pinned it across the breadth of the wardrobe.
Grace nodded and then turned to face her concerned sister, "You in, Charlotte?"
A knot formed in Charlotte's gut and her face contorted with confusion. She sighed, and let all her worries go, "Oh, all right, I'm in."
"Tell me what you think," Grace said as she passed the blonde witch the piece of paper with the makings of the spell.
"Hmm," Charlotte mumbled to herself, "I think we should be a bit more specific on what we want to see, I mean, mom had good and bad loves, you know? I'm assuming we want to see them all." She took the pen from Grace and wrote a few additions and changes to the spell, "How about that?
Grace took the paper, glazed her eyes over it and nodded, "Okay, so the spell's done. Do we need anything else?"
"I shouldn't imagine so," Penny said as music sounded from her cell phone. She moved over to her dresser drawer and answered it. "Oh, hey Dave, what's up? … Oh, okay, I'll be right there."
"Who was that?" Grace asked, a little deflated.
"My boss. They want me in now even though the shoot isn't until eleven, ugh, typical. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to bail."
"But this was your idea!" Grace urged.
"I know, but I really have to go. We'll do this later – don't start without me!" Penny ordered before leaving the room.
"What about you, sis? Are you staying for the show?"
Charlotte smiled awkwardly from behind the cell phone she held to her face, "About that… I forgot that I have to meet Jody at the Magic School library; I promised I'd help her study for her History of Magic exam re-sit. Sorry."
"Ugh, fine. I didn't want to do it anyway," Grace sulked as she headed to her room. She dived onto her bed and reached under her pillow. She withdrew her copy of her mother's book and began to read it. After a few minutes of swift annoyance-fuelled reading, Grace sighed and stopped following the words in front of her. She lay on her bed motionless for a moment before sitting up suddenly with a look of determination plastered over her face. She slipped off of the bed with the book still in her hand and tip-toed back towards Penny's room, quietly shutting the door behind her. "Watching the movie twice never hurt anyone," she said to herself as she crossed the empty room to the dresser drawers. She picked up the piece of paper with the spell upon it at put down her book in its stead. Taking in a deep breath she read aloud:
"To keep us all that much safer,
Bestow the sight upon this paper,
The past of the heart so pure,
Of the pain and loss she has endured,
From the dark below to the light above,
Show us now our mother's past loves."
A gust of wind zipped around the room and ripped the piece of paper out of Grace's hand. A trail of golden smoke and glitter spiralled around her feet and swiftly worked its way up her body. She tried to move but was frozen in place by an unseen force. "Crap!" she exclaimed before the glittery smoke engulfed her completely like a silky caramel cocoon. She squirmed against the magical force but to no avail. The winds blew around the room and flipped open the book that Grace was reading. The dazzling cocoon melted into pale wisps of smoke and they shot forward into the open book, illuminating the room in a bright yellow hue. After a moment the intense light faded, the wind died down and Grace was nowhere to be seen. All that was left of her was the book she was reading, which was forcibly held open on a page titled "The Man Who Was Meant to Die".
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