Chapter One
"That's the third dress you've tried on this morning, Mom!"
Patricia "Patty" Halliwell stood restlessly outside the changing room cubicle of Gwen's – a small fashion boutique in downtown San Francisco. Wrestling with baby Prue in one arm, she tried to see what time it was, using her chin to lift up the sleeve of her blouse to allow access to the small watch she wore around her wrist – 1:36pm. "Mom, we've got to get going, Victor and I have a viewing at an apartment in less than an hour, I don't want to be late!" the frustrated witch-wife-mother-daughter called, feeling like what she had just said was falling on deaf ears, as she knew that whenever Victor's name came up in conversation, her mother would instantly tune out.
"I'm coming out now," Penny said, un-phased by her daughter's eagerness to leave the store. "I'm not sure any of these dresses are me enough," she pulled open the material curtain and emerged with three dresses, each back on their hangers and none on Penny's to buy list.
"What do you mean? You wear this kind of stuff all the time," Patty said, looking through the selection of floral print, long, flowing dresses which her mother had been drawn to, which now apparently didn't suit. "Could this be about something else?" she asked, wishing immediately after she had spoken she could take it back.
"Like what Patty? What else could this possibly have to do with?" Penny asked, her voice sounding flustered, almost as if Patty had touched a nerve with her suspicions.
"Nothing, I'm not saying anything!" Patty decided it was best to play dumb, she knew her mother all to well that she didn't react well to being questioned about things she obviously didn't want to talk about. "Now come on, we have to leave to meet Victor back at the house."
"Well you obviously meant something by it," Penny followed Patty, who was quickly making her way out of the store. Dropping her dresses on a lone rack as she followed, Penny was determined to find out what exactly her daughter meant about "something else."
Outside, as Patty struggled to get Prue fastened into her car seat, Penny wasn't letting go of her daughter's comment. "What did you mean," her words came out slowly, but each one felt weighted and determined.
"Mom, I'm a little busy right now, can we do this later?" Patty asked, beginning to get annoyed at how complex the new car seat was evidently becoming.
"Let me," Penny pushed her way passed her exhausted daughter and took a quick look to her left and then to her right, before waving her arm over the child seat and skilfully using her telekinesis power, buckled young Prue in safely. "There, it just takes a certain touch," she said, teasingly.
"Yeah, a magical one." Patty recounted, closing the back door of the car.
"So, what exactly did you mean?" Penny probed again as Patty climbed into the drivers seat.
"All I meant was that perhaps none of the dresses worked for you because you were too nervous about your date, and about what Ron would think of you," she gave in, knowing that now she had dared to delve into the mind of her fearless mother, she would never hear the end of it, and it was at least a twenty-five minute drive home.
"How can you say such a ridiculous thing Patty," she shrugged off Patty's assessment, no matter how accurate it was. Penny Halliwell didn't get nervous, not around demons or warlocks and definitely not around men. Or that was the persona she liked to present for herself and the world. Deep down Penny was nervous about her date, in fact it was the first date she had been on in over a year, and it was a blind date at that so she didn't know what to expect.
The truth was, that since her last marriage dissolved, Penny had focused all of her emotions and energy into combating the forces of evil, thwarting their plans for control and saving the innocent from power hungry warlocks. She had almost forgotten how to relate to normal people, and the thought of meeting someone who she would potentially have to let into her extraordinary world was frightening to the usually cool, calm and collected grandmother. "I am simply not that interested in meeting men at my age."
"Then why did you agree?" Patty queried, quickly checking on baby Prue who was fast asleep in her baby chair on the back seat.
"To shut you up! Now can we please move on to something else!"
Disclaimer: The sory is based on Charmed created by Constance M. Burge. I am not claiming ownership over the characters of Penny, Patty, Victor or any other characters who appear throught the story who have previously appeared in the show. This is simply a work of fan fiction.