Moving In
The following morning Prue awoke to find that Phoebe had stolen most of the covers. The ten-year-old sighed and out of bed. She'd let Phoebe sleep. After all it was Saturday. She quietly wandered into Piper's room. The eight-year-old was sitting cross-legged on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest.
"Morning Piper," Prue murmured, sitting down on the bed next to her sister. Piper looked at her older sister and scooted closer.
"I want to go home," Piper whispered, still clutching the pillow. It was then that Prue noticed the red rings around her sister's eyes and the dampness of the pillow.
"What's wrong?" Prue pressed.
"I miss my room. I miss the Manor. I don't like it here," Piper answered, sniffling softly. Prue wasn't sure what to say. She felt the exact same way. She wondered what made Piper change her mind overnight. Back in the other room, Phoebe woke up, finding herself alone.
"Prue," the five-year-old called out.
"In Piper's room," Prue called back. The five-year-old climbed out of the bed and wandered into the other room. She jumped onto Piper's bed and seeing that Piper had been crying, tackled her with a hug.
"Thanks, Pheebs," Piper said with a watery smile.
"I'm hungry," Phoebe announced, disentangling herself from her older sibling.
"I guess we should see if Victor is awake," Prue muttered. She received a slight shove in her shoulder from Piper. Prue just ignored the gesture. She led the younger two out into the living room area and then to the kitchen.
"I guess he's not awake yet," Piper commented.
"Should we wake him up?" Phoebe asked, fixing to head for his room.
"No. We can get our own breakfast," Prue answered. Phoebe sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the small table. She resituated herself on her knees so she could reach the table comfortably. Prue pulled open the fridge to find several six-packs of beer, a half-full carton of milk and some expired cheese.
"That's gross," she muttered in disgust.
"Piper, look in the cabinets over there," Prue ordered. The eight-year-old got up and began looking in the cabinets. She found bowls but no cereal.
"How can he not have breakfast," Prue ground out. She stormed off in the direction of Victor's room.
Behind the closed door, Victor was just getting up. He was about to pull open the shade when a bright light appeared before him, dissipating to reveal a woman. He jumped back, colliding with the window sill.
"P-Patty?" he rasped. This couldn't be happening. She was dead. She'd been dead for two years.
"Hello, Victor," Patty's ghost greeted.
"You're a…a…" he trailed off.
"A ghost," she concluded and he nodded.
"I…I don't understand. What…how…?" he babbled.
"Have a seat Victor," Patty ordered. He stumbled into a chair.
"I'm here because my mother hasn't mastered the ability of crossing over," she began.
"Your mom…just died," Victor managed to get out.
"Exactly," Patty said.
"Now, why don't you explain to me why you took the girls away from the Manor?" she demanded.
"Well…I…I just thought…it would be ok. I mean the house….belonged to your mother. I'm sure she wouldn't want me there," he tried to reply.
"The girls need to be in the Manor, Victor. They'll be coming into their powers any day now and they need the protection of the house," Patty snapped.
"I…I thought your mother…stopped all that," Victor muttered.
"The spell only lasted until she died," Patty answered as if it should be obvious.
"Well if what you're saying is true…that they're going to…get powers, then you should be thanking me for taking them away from the Manor. That place is a magnet for…evil," Victor countered.
"It is their destiny. I know they're young but it is what they were meant to do," Patty tried to impress upon her ex-husband.
"I told you I didn't want my daughters raised around all of this," he shot back.
"You don't have a choice. I'm sorry but you just don't. You need to get them back to the Manor as soon as you can," Patty said before disappearing into nothingness.
Back outside, Prue stopped. She could have sworn she had heard voices, her mother's voice. She knew it couldn't be real. It was probably just Victor talking to himself. She reached the door and knocked. A few minutes later the door was pulled open and Victor looked down at her.
"What is it?" he asked, trying to calm himself down.
"There's no food," she answered.
"I just went shopping," he muttered, leaving his room and heading for the kitchen area. Prue peered inside the still dark room but saw no one. She found Victor rummaging through the fridge.
"Way to be prepared," she muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" he asked, looking at her.
"Nothing," she replied.
"I guess we need to go shopping," he sighed.
"We could always go over to the Manor. We have lots of food there," Piper offered. Victor stopped cold for a moment. He got the strange feeling that it wasn't really Piper talking, that it was Patty somehow trying to remind him of the imminent danger his girls were about to find themselves in.
"Alright, fine. Go get dressed," he sighed.
The girls hurried back into their rooms. He returned to his room as well, half-expecting Patty to come back. When she did not return he grabbed some pants a clean shirt and got dressed. When he walked out of his room towards the bathroom, he found all three girls seated on the couch, ready to go. He held up a finger to let them know he needed a minute in the bathroom. Five minutes later they four of them found themselves back in Victor's car. The scene that greeted them as they drove up Prescott Street was jarring. A tall man was hammering a 'for sale' sign into the front lawn of the property. Prue barely gave Victor enough time to park the car before she jumped out and run up the man.
"What are you doing. We still live here," she said rudely.
"I'm sorry little girl but the lady that owned this house died," the man answered, giving her a crooked smile.
"Don't talk bad about my Grams you jerk," she spat.
"Prue let the man be," Victor ordered, finally joining her with Piper and Phoebe in toe.
"But he's trying to sell our house. He can't do that!" Prue protested.
"Energetic child," the man said with a wink.
"Look, they haven't had breakfast yet. Do you think we could just go in and get something to eat?" Victor asked.
"Of course," the real estate agent assured him. Victor ushered the girls up the front steps. He glanced over his shoulder at the man. He got a very bad feeling about this. He found the girls in the kitchen, each eating a bowl of cereal. Phoebe looked up at her father expectantly.
"Daddy, are we going to sell the house?" she asked innocently.
"Well…the house belonged to your Grams," he began. He wasn't sure if he could truthfully answer his daughter's question. He was still trying to make sense of seeing his dead ex-wife.
"Well I don't want to live with you in that boring apartment. So maybe you should just buy the house," Prue muttered.
"Prudence, can I talk to you in here, now?" Victor ground out. Prue stood up and trudged after her father into the conservatory.
"I do not appreciate the way you are treating me," Victor said sternly. Prue merely crossed her arms over her chest and averted her gaze.
"Prue, look at me," he demanded. She turned her gaze towards him.
"I know you resent me for leaving. I understand," he said, trying to keep his voice.
"Screw you," Prue spat and stormed out of the room and her feet pounded up the stairs.
"Prue get back down here," Victor bellowed but all he got was a slamming door in response. He turned around, fighting the urge to swear and was met with two pair of frightened eyes. Prue never said curse words, especially to adults.
"Why don't you girls go play upstairs. I have to take care of something," Victor murmured. Piper took Phoebe by the hand and led her upstairs into their room. Victor sighed and headed outside. The real estate agent was still there, leaning on the sign.
"Excuse me," Victor said, catching the man's attention.
"All finished?" the man asked.
"How much are you selling the house for?" Victor asked pointedly.
"Excuse me?" the real estate agent replied.
"How much are you selling the house for?" Victor repeated.
"Are you going to buy it?" the other man asked.
"Just tell me how much and I'll get the money," Victor said, starting to get irritated.
"I'll…have to check with the estate holder," he muttered and disappeared into a car a few driveways down. In the passenger seat, a familiar dirty blond sat.
"The father is trying to buy the house," the sales agent ground out.
"You were the one who decided to pose as a real estate agent, Robert," Janice hissed.
"We can't let them get the house," Robert grumbled.
"Just because he owns the house doesn't mean we can't take it over," Janice reminded him. He nodded and climbed out of the car, returning to where Victor stood.
"We're selling it for thirty thousand dollars," Robert answered. Victor pulled out his car keys and headed for his car. He rummaged through the glove compartment to get his checkbook. He grabbed a pen and ran back to where Robert stood.
"I'll give you half of it now and the other half this afternoon," Victor said, breathlessly as he wrote the fifteen thousand dollar check. He handed it to Robert and headed back inside. Piper was pacing in her room, Phoebe's eyes glued to her.
"Do you think Daddy is going to stay mad at Prue?" the five-year-old asked.
"I don't know. I've never seen Prue that mad, either," Piper answered. Just then footsteps echoed on the stairs and Victor poked his head into the room.
"Hi girls. We're going to head out in a few minutes to go pick up your things," he said. Phoebe let out a squeal and jumped off the bed, running to give Victor a hug. He ruffled her hair as he headed for Prue's room. The door was locked and he took a minute to compose himself. He knocked briskly but got no answer. He tried again but was still ignored.
"Prue, please open the door," he called. Footsteps resounded within and the lock clicked.
"What?" she asked.
"I thought I'd let you know that I just bought the house," he answered. She just stared at him.
"You did?" she finally managed to get out.
"Yes. So we should head back to the apartment so we can pick up your suitcases," he commented. Prue did her best to hide the content smile. She didn't want to show how happy she was. Half an hour later they were loading the rest of Victor's belongings into the car.
"So are you going to sell the apartment?" Piper asked as they climbed in.
"Well kiddo, my lease ends this month so I don't have to renew the contract," he explained, not sure if she would understand.
"We have to stop one more place before we get back to the Manor," he announced as they pulled out of the parking lot.
"Where, Daddy?" Phoebe piped up.
"I have to get some money to finish paying for the house," he replied. Piper looked at Prue, expecting a retort but she didn't give one. The car was quiet while Victor pulled up to a bank. He headed inside and within minutes came back out with a smile on his face.
"We're all set," he said and gave all three of his girls a smile. He hoped he was doing the right thing.
That night they enjoyed Chinese take out and a generally amicable atmosphere. Prue was just glad to be back in the home she had grown up in. She felt safe here, somehow protected even though the people she loved and had been there for her were now dead. She looked over at her baby sister who was asleep, leaning against Victor's shoulder.
"I'm going to put her to bed," Prue announced softly.
"You don't have to. I can," Victor answered and scooped the five-year-old up. It had been a while since he'd put one of his girls to bed. Piper soon headed up to bed, leaving Victor and Prue downstairs.
"It's getting late," he commented as the clock chimed ten o'clock.
Prue shrugged and climbed the stairs to bed. Victor took the empty take out boxes into the kitchen and tossed them in the trash. He was almost expecting to see Patty again, come to congratulate him on doing the right thing. What he didn't know was the miraculous event that was happening to his daughters. All three girls were deep in slumber as wispy white lights floated above each of them. The lights slowly descended, making the child glow for a moment. Each girl stirred briefly but none woke up. Their destiny had begun.