The One Where….

Penelope

I already know before she even arrives that this probably isn't a good idea. Most of my ideas are—great that is—but this one might not actually work out. I didn't even find out she was coming until two months ago, which isn't really that long when you think about it.

I… don't think about it.

I haven't told Baz or Simon that I'm bringing a guest with me to Hampshire. I don't think they even know that Agatha is coming home for Christmas. Or if they do know they certainly haven't told me—the gits.

None of us have even seen Agatha since that night with the Mage. The night we all saw her running, and then she never really stopped. She ran all the way to America and decided to stay there until she would bare to face any of us again.

Especially Baz.

That's what she said when I spoke to her over the phone anyway. That she wants to make things right again between all of us. That she wants to come home and maybe stop running. Her parents are still a bit peeved though, so I promised that she could come with me for Christmas.

I just didn't tell her that I was going to Hampshire.

To stay with Simon and Baz.

Her ex-boyfriend, and the boy she is still won't admit she's madly in love with.

Too bad they're madly in love with each other.

Not that Agatha knows that either, of course. She missed that part of the story; a side-effect of running away. She missed Simon and I finally living together in a flat like we always talked about. And she's missed the fact that Baz basically lives with us as well.

She missed the 'happy ending' part of the story as well. Or at least the beginning of what is the 'happy ending'. The one filled with Friday night films and late-night teas. That time last summer when Baz and I stayed up for almost three full days while we poured over books to help Simon get his magic back. And when Simon did, truly, get everything back that was taken, she missed the look on his face when his magic touched Baz's for the first time in nearly five years.

The thing is, Agatha doesn't know any of that. She hasn't even seemed to realise that we're all still in touch, or that we spend our summer holiday's in Hampshire now—and nearly ever holiday.

So, when she eventually arrives at my parent's house a week before Christmas Eve, I'm barely holding it all together. Five years without seeing a girl I'd seen almost every day for nearly a decade. My mother can tell I'm going batty. She keeps checking in on me as I manually pack luggage for the two weeks away.

I can tell that my constant packing and unpacking is stressing her out just as much, but it is either that or I go back to pacing around my bedroom; that even stressed my dad out.

Agatha is sat at the bottom of the stairs once I'm sure I've got everything. Her bags are nowhere to be seen, so I assume that they're already in the boot of my new car. I had to get one when we all moved. It made the trips home a lot easier than taking the bloody train all the time. Baz says I should just use magic to get here faster, but the bastard drives a much nicer car than me.

I tell Baz to bugger off when he says this. Not all of us have our magical boyfriends powering us up all the time.

And he does—trust me. I have to live with them.

"So, where are we going?" Agatha makes it further than I thought she would. The old her would have waited outside the car with her bags still at her feet until I would tell her what I was planning.

But that was the old Agatha I suppose. The packaging may look the same, but she clearly changed a lot in the almost two years since we've been face to face. Her hair looks the same though.

It's totally a spell.