It was a rainy day in San Francisco, and the Charmed Ones were sitting at the dining room table, less Paige. She walked into the room, sat down, and tossed down a deck of cards. Piper raised an eyebrow at the cards, and then at Paige. "What's all this?"
"When's the last time we did anything as sisters that didn't involve demons?" Paige asked as she sat down between Prue and Phoebe.
"Probably never," Phoebe said, eyeing the cards. "But do you really want to play UNO?"
"Yeah," Paige smiled. "Hey, I didn't have you guys growing up, and I didn't have any sisters or brothers of my own, so what's wrong with playing a kids' game?"
"Okay then," Prue said, picking up the cards. "Let's play!" As she shuffled the deck, she wondered what was up with Paige, but decided that since Paige was being sociable, they'd better go along with it. Even if they were playing cards. At least Paige was taking an interest in SOMETHING.
Prue dealt seven cards to everyone. Piper discarded first. They all went around, taking their turns. Then Piper laid down a draw two card.
"Hey!" Phoebe said. No fair!" She picked up two, and it was Paige's turn.
She laid down a wild draw four. "I'll make it green."
"Green? I don't have any greens!" Prue exclaimed.
"Well then I guess it's a good thing you had to draw four!" Paige said, smiling.
When it came back to Phoebe again, she threw down a skip card. Prue threw down a reverse. Paige discarded a reverse. Piper put down a green seven.
"Hey! It's not your turn Piper!"
Piper picked up the card and said, "Well who the hell can keep track with all this skips and reverses?" Prue took her turn, leaving only one card in her hand.
"Uno!" Piper yelled, pointing at Prue. "Ha! You have to draw more cards!"
The girls actually found themselves having a good time. They laughed and played, and threw popcorn at each other. It was hard to remember a time when they'd really had so much fun. But all good things must come to an end, and it did, as a warlock blinked into the room.
He caught Prue's eye, and she yelled, "Phoebe, behind you!" The warlock lunged toward Phoebe, who leapt from the chair and onto the floor. Prue had stood up, and flung her arm at the warlock, throwing him into the wall. As he slid down it, the sisters composed themselves and Prue said, "Shall I?"
"Nah, he's too easy," Piper said. She held up her hands and blew the warlock up. "Now that that's done, I have to go find Leo and the boys." She looked at her watch. "They should have been back by now." She grabbed her jacket and walked out.
Phoebe started picking up the cards and put a rubber band around them. "What time did Piper say it was? I have a date tonight."
"Me too," Prue smiled, picking up popcorn kernels.
"Oh, and where are you going?" Paige asked Prue.
"His place," she smirked, and sashayed out of the room toward the basement, where she and Phoebe shared a room.
"Hmmph. I'm gonna be alone again tonight," Paige pouted.
"Well, honey, why don't you go out? You can come with me and Aiden."
"Oh yeah, that will be a blast, tagging along with my big sister and my DOCTOR." Paige rolled her eyes.
"Paige, I thought it didn't bother you that I was seeing Dr. Scott."
"It doesn't!" she exclaimed. "I'm just lonely."
"Well, I'll call and cancel. He'll understand. You and I can play more uno."
"No, just go. I'll be fine. Piper and Leo will probably end up coming home early, anyway. I will be fine."
Piper and Leo ended up staying out later with the boys than Paige had imagined. She'd tried reading, tv, crossword puzzles, even knitting, but nothing held her attention. Dr. Scott said that was normal. Or Aiden. Whatever the hell she was supposed to call him. She was surprised by a knock at the door. She was more surprised to see Glen there. After her mini-breakdown the other day, she and Glen had only talked once.
"Glen! I'm so glad to see you!"
"You are?"
"Yeah! Come in!" She held the door open for him, and then followed him into the conservatory. "So what's up?"
Glen thought Paige was a little too chipper, and decided not to tell her what he came to say. Instead, "I just missed you. Wanted to see if you wanted to go grab a burger or something."
"I'm not really hungry."
"Me neither."
"Glen, why are you really here? I know you didn't come with intentions of feeding me, when you're not even hungry yourself. Spill."
"I.. Paige, I withdrew the offer on the house next door. Someone else bought it, and they'll be moving in the middle of next week. I just wanted to tell you first, before you saw them over there." He slumped down on the sofa.
She was quite for a moment, and sat down too. She put a hand on his knee, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "It's okay. I understand. What do we need with five bedrooms, when it's just us?"
"Us?" Glen asked, pullling back so he could see her face. "Does this mean you want to be with me again?"
"Yeah, if you'll still have me. Dr. Scott, Aiden, whatever the hell I'm supposed to call him, has helped me a lot. I still need to keep seeing him, but I'm working through it. Maybe you could go see him, too. Seperately, of course."
"Isn't it weird to talk to Phoebe's boyfriend about stuff?"
"Nah, he's cool. And he makes Phoebe happy. I hope it works out for them. We're all very good at keeping the sessions away from the personal levels. Plus, it really helps that he's a witch, so I don't have to hold back any details with him."
"So then, is his brother, that guy Prue is with, a witch too?"
"Yeah. They, on the other hand, aren't going to last long. They're way too similar. But I'm glad she's happy with him for now."
"Paige, are you sure you're okay? With everything, I mean. Me, you, your sisters and their boyfriends, being around the babies, everything?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. Not better, so to speak, but I'm okay. And I will get better. How about you? Have you been doing alright?" Paige asked him thoughtfully.
"I guess as well as can be expected. I haven been seeing a counsellor, but without being able to talk about the magical aspects, it's not doing that much good for me. Maybe I will call Dr. Scott. But Paige, I need to be with you, to heal completely. I can't stay away from you anymore. Paige, tell me you feel the same way." She could see in his eyes that he meant it. They stared at each other for a moment, until Paige wrapped her arms around him.
"I need to be with you, too. Losing the baby still hurts so much, but it's a lot worse without you there to lean on." Her eyes filled with tears, but they didn't fall. She pulled back, with her arms still around him, to look in his eyes. She knew she couldn't deny it anymore, she loved him and couldn't live without him, even though they had to live without their little girl. They kissed. At first tenderly, but then it became heated. Glen found his hands roaming Paige's body, clenching her soft black hair, pulling her closer to him. Paige started to lie back, pulling him with her when,
"Ahem. NOT on my couch, please." They jumped up. Piper was standing in the doorway, smirking, in a smiley way. "You guys look like teenagers that just got caught making out. Take it upstairs," she laughed. Leo walked up behind her, pushing a stroller with one hand, Wyatt's hand in his other.
Paige and Glen laughed, and stood up. "Good idea, sis," Paige winked, and pulled Glen upstairs.
"Well," Leo said, "I'm glad to see they're back together, and almost back to normal."
"Me too," said Piper.
At the top of the stairs, Glen pulled back. "Paige, wait, this is too weird, with Leo and Piper here, and especially with the boys being here. I don't want to hold back with you." He cupped her chin with his hand, and kissed her lips. "Let's go to my house."
Later, at Glen's, they laid in bed, holding each other. "Paige," Glen said, "I meant what I said. I need to be with you. All the time."
She leaned up on one elbow to look down at him. "What are you getting at?" She smiled.
"Paige, move in with me. No no," he said to her objection, "hear me out. We're meant to be together Paige, you know it. Your sisters will be just fine without you under the same roof. There are four of you now, afterall. And you'll only be a call away, and you can get to them in what, three seconds with that orbing thing? Paige, please live with me."
"If you'd have let me talk," Paige smiled, "you would have heard my answer. Yes. I'll move in with you." She leaned down to kiss him, and to go for round two under the sheets. But Glen pulled back.
"What is it?"
He reached to the floor where his discarded jeans lay. He dug something out of the pocket.
"That's not what I think it is," Paige thought to herself, sitting up in bed, pulling the covers to her chest. "It's not!" She kept thinking. Glen pulled out a little black velvet box. He opened it to reveal a platinum ring with a huge marquis diamond centered on the band.
"Paige Halliwell-Matthews, will you marry me?"
"Yes!"
----"And that's how it happened, right there, in his bed, wearing nothing but sheets," Paige told Phoebe the next day.
"Oh, my baby sisters is getting married! I'm so happy for you!" Phoebe was so giddy, using her excited-baby voice she sometimes uses. "When are you going to do it?"
"We're not sure yet, but Pheebs, I'm moving in with him. We're going to keep his little house, not the big one next door. Someone else is moving in there next week."
"And you're worried about breaking up the Power of Four?" Phoebe asked.
"Not really," Paige said. "I'm not worried about anything, surprisingly. As Glen pointed out, I'm only an orb away. And with four of us now, we can kick any demon's ass, or hold him off till the rest of us get there," she smiled. Phoebe was so happy to see a genuine smile on her sister's face.
"You're right," Phoebe said. "We'll all be fine. Even if you do live four miles away now."
"Hey," Paige said, happily, "now you can go back to having your own room! Prue can take back over on her old room, since I'll be moving out of it. Or else Piper will make her stay down there with you, and let the boys have their own rooms."
"I'm sure it will be the latter," Phoebe laughed. "Prue and I are never sleeping in our room on the same nights, anyway, now that we're both dating. God, I am SOOOO glad that the brother's we're seeing don't live together!"
They laughed at that, and Paige jumped up as she heard the door open. In walked Prue, holding Wyatt's hand, and Piper, cradling a sleeping baby Chris.
"Guys," Paige said, "I have news."
