Author's Note: I know, I know, I should be working on Destiny Rewritten. And the next chapter is coming, I swear. But, I've also been working on this one for a while, and I really like how it's going.
"Push, Patty!"
Patty bit back a scream as she bore down, the effort of giving birth feeling like she was being split in two. She clenched her mother's hand in a painful grip as she met Sam's eyes, down at the foot of the bed. He tried to smile, reassuringly, at her, but she wasn't fooled. His eyes held the same worried expression that hers did.
The baby was early – too early. The baby wasn't supposed to b born for another month and a half, but her water had broken several hours ago. Stress, most likely, but knowing what caused it didn't make her feel any better.
'Not my baby,' she pleaded, silently, as she pushed again on Sam's instruction. 'I've gone through too much to protect this baby; I can't lose her, now.'
When Sam told her to relax, Patty collapsed back against the pillows bunched up behind her, closing her eyes with exhaustion. She could feel someone wiping the sweat from her forehead, and she opened her eyes to see Sam looking down at her, a concerned expression on his face.
"I'm going to go check on the girls," Penny spoke up, suddenly, standing and heading for the bedroom door. "Make sure they're still asleep."
She slipped out into the hallway, leaving the two of them alone in the room. Patty snuggled against Sam as he stretched out on the bed beside her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close.
"I think you should go to the hospital," Sam spoke up, but Patty shook her head.
"She's half Whitelighter, Sam," she pointed out. "What are we going to do when she's born in swaddling orbs?"
"I'd rather expose magic than lose our child," Sam argued.
"If we go to the hospital, and the Elders find out about the baby," Patty fired back, "then I'm going to lose you, both. No hospital."
"This labor is too hard for you," Sam protested, but Patty quieted him with a finger on his lips.
"Is the baby in any kind of danger?" she asked, and after a moment, Sam shook his head.
"I don't think so," he replied.
"Then I'm fine," Patty finished. "Sam, you can heal me from anything that happens."
"Not anything," Sam argued, hotly. "Patty-"
"I can feel another contraction coming on," Patty interrupted him, suddenly. "It's a big one."
"Okay, okay," Sam said, his voice soothing as he moved back to the foot of the bed. "All right, now, push!"
Patty bore down as hard as she could, clutching at the sheets in both hands. Her breath came out in short, painful gasps, and her world narrowed down to a pinpoint focus.
"I see a head," Sam told her, encouragingly, and Patty let out a surprised laugh, tears streaking down her cheeks. "Patty, push."
"I am," Patty gritted out, shooting him an exasperated look. "You wanna do this?"
"I think I'm good here, thanks," Sam muttered. "Okay, got a shoulder-"
Patty bore down one, final time, feeling a spike of pain run through her.
"Got her," Sam said, his voice distant.
"It's a girl?" Patty asked, but Sam wasn't paying attention to her. "Sam, what's wrong? What's wrong with my baby?"
"She's not breathing," Sam said, after a moment, and Patty could practically feel her heart stop.
"No," she whimpered, and when her mother appeared in the doorway, Patty shot her an imploring look, struggling to sit up in the bed. "She's not breathing. My baby's not breathing."
"Sam," Penny said, warningly, but the Whitelighter was ignoring them, both.
He'd laid the baby down on a clean towel, on the enormous wooden chest at the far end of the room. He was crouched beside the chest, one hand gently tipping the baby's head back, the other over her torso, with two fingers pressed firmly against her breastbone.
"Penny, get over here," Sam snapped, and the older woman hurried to his side. "Take this," Sam added, handing her a bulb. "Into her nose, suction all of that crap out."
Penny did as he instructed, and Sam gently pressed his fingers into the baby's chest, forcing her heart to beat for her. They worked in silence for several long minutes, and Patty's heart was in her throat the whole time. Fear had her heart hammering in her chest, a fear that didn't abate until she heard a thin, high-pitched wail coming from the other side of the room.
"Is she okay?" she demanded, and Sam turned to look at her, relief standing out starkly on his face.
"She's perfect," Sam reassured her, gently. "Our daughter is perfect."
Crossing the room, he handed the carefully-wrapped bundle down to her, and Patty clutched her daughter protectively to her chest, staring down into bright blue eyes.
"I can't do it," she whispered, after a moment. "I can't give her up."
"Patty," Penny said, warningly, but Patty shook her head.
"I can't," she repeated, emphatically. "She nearly died, Mother. I could have lost my baby girl in a heartbeat. I can't do it, again."
"Giving this child up for adoption is the only way to protect her," Penny argued, stubbornly. "We've already talked about this, Patty. Several months ago, in fact. This is the only way."
"It's not the only way," Sam spoke up, into the silence that descended between the two of them. "There's another way to protect our daughter."
"How?" Penny demanded. "If you keep this child, the Elders will be furious. You broke the rules, you knew there would be repercussions – they could decide to take it out on the girls. They might never become Charmed."
"So, I'm supposed to just choose?" Patty demanded. "Three is more important than one, is that what you're saying, Mother?"
"I'm not saying that," Penny argued, but Patty glared at her.
"You've been against my keeping this child since the beginning," she snapped. "Worried about how it might affect the Charmed Ones. Well, I don't care if any of my daughters are Charmed. I just want them to be together, as a family."
"This is the girls' birthright that I'm talking about," Penny shot back.
"This is my daughter," Patty said, firmly. "And, even if it means giving up our family's magic, I can't lose her."
"You don't have to," Sam broke in, before they could continue fighting. "Patty, Penny, please listen to me."
"Anything has to be better than giving her to strangers," Patty replied, stubbornly, ignoring the pointed look her mother shot her.
"It's not a perfect solution," Sam started, "but it might be the only way. I'm going to clip my wings and raise our daughter. As a mortal."
Patty stared at Sam, her mouth falling open in shock.
"You-" she started, but then she trailed off, helplessly.
"I can't lose her, either," Sam said, quietly. "Without my wings, the Elders can't track me. They won't find me – or our daughter."
"You're just going to abandon your other charges," Penny said, accusingly.
"They'll be reassigned," Sam told her. "My charges will be well taken care of. I'm not going to abandon my daughter."
"She still won't know her sisters," Patty said, softly, and Sam reached over and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
"When they're all old enough," he told her, "we can tell them the truth. And until then, she'll be with me. She'll be safe, Patty; I swear on my life."
"Where will you go?" Patty asked, but Sam shook his head.
"I don't think I should tell you that," he said, regret clear in his voice. "Patty, the less you know-"
"The safer you and our baby will be," she finished, sadly. "I just can't stand the thought of my daughter being somewhere without me."
"Soon, the Elders will have no reason to look our way," Sam reassured her.
"And, until then, the two of you need to stay hidden," Patty said. She stroked a finger down her baby girl's cheek, holding the child close. "Promise me," she went on, her voice suddenly fierce. "Promise me that you'll keep her safe. Take her somewhere that no one will ever think to look for you."
"I will," Sam swore, and, reluctantly, Patty handed the baby over to him, watching critically as he cradled the infant in his arms.
"Go," Patty said, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. "Before I change my mind."
"She still needs a name," Sam said, quietly. "Any suggestions?"
Patty bit back the instinctive response that she couldn't, that giving her daughter a name would only make it that much harder to let her go. Instead, she turned and looked at the baby lying in Sam's arms, meeting bright blue eyes that were watching her, intently.
"Paige," she finally said, after several long moments. "After your grandmother."
"And Melinda for her middle name," Sam added. "Patty, I swear, Paige will know every day of her life how much you love her."
"She'd better," Patty said, tears shining in her eyes. "I love you both, so much."
"I love you," Sam whispered, bending down and brushing a kiss across her lips. Then, he and Paige orbed away, leaving Patty and Penny alone in the bedroom.
Sam orbed into the apartment that he'd, unbeknownst to anyone else, including Patty, rented a couple of weeks ago. He hadn't discussed it with Patty, but as soon as they'd started talking about giving up their daughter for adoption, to keep her safe, he'd started working on an alternate plan. He'd found a job, started earning money to live on, and established a life in a big city on the other side of the country, somewhere where they would be completely anonymous. He'd been trying to find a way to stay with Patty and her girls, to keep their whole, mishmash family together, but it had been hard enough to find a way to just keep his daughter.
He hated having to leave Patty behind, knowing that giving up his wings would likely mean that he would never see the woman that he loved ever again. But, it was a necessary sacrifice, one that he was willing to make in order to keep his daughter safe.
He hadn't told Patty, not wanting to worry her, but if the Elders had found out about Paige, the repercussions would be far greater than just her other daughters being in danger of losing their powers. If the Elders discovered what he'd done, he faced having his soul recycled. And Paige – she faced having her powers stripped and being banished from her family.
"I'm not going to let that happen to you," Sam swore, as he gazed down at his infant daughter. "They're never going to touch you; I'll make sure of it."
Paige blinked up at him, yawning hugely as sleep overwhelmed her. Sam took her into the bedroom, laying her down in the bassinet in the corner of the room. There was a separate room that he'd built up as a nursery, but for the first night at least, he wanted his daughter where he could see her.
"Looks like it's just you and me," he murmured, to the sleeping infant. "Don't you worry, sweetheart. We're going to be just fine."
