Chapter 8 - Letting Go, Moving On

"Get away from here, now." Penny said, her voice low as not to alarm the girls - unaware Piper and Paige were watching - but as menacing as could be.

"Penny?" He croaked, and he smiled widely. "You haven't changed a bit!"

"I'm warning you, leave. Now." Penny said, her eyes narrowed. She'd never liked him, and if her granddaughters weren't in the other room, she would have hit him for what he did.

"Are they here?" He asked, looking past her best he could.

"Who?" Penny asked innocently.

"Let me in, just let me in." He stepped forward, but she stepped forward, looked him in the eye. "I want to see my daughters." He snapped, and for a moment looked as though he'd push her aside - but he quickly thought better of it. He knew first hand the kind of things Penny could do...

"Penny, please, I just want to know that they're safe. I swear I'm not going to take them again, I just want to know they're OK..."

"Why? You never cared before."

"I always made sure they were safe." He snapped. "Is Patty here? Let me talk to Patty."

"Patty?" Penny looked at him, almost in sympathy. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" He asked her, his eyes widened with fear. "What?"

Penny knew Victor had loved her daughter. She'd never been able to deny that. And all those years ago, she almost understood why he'd done what he'd done. As a parent, she knew you do whatever you can to keep your kids with you, always.

"Victor... she's dead." Penny said quietly. "She died three years after you took the girls." His legs gave way, he fell against the wall.

"Dead?" He repeated. "No... god no... not Patty..."

"I - I'm sorry -" Penny said automatically. He looked at her, shook his head.

"I'm sorry. You lost your daughter... the girls lost their mother... I should never have taken them. I'm so sorry..."

"Victor, listen to me. They're safe, OK? And I'll make sure they stay safe. Now, leave, or I call the police."

"I... Yes. Thank you." He turned to leave, then turned back. "Tell them - tell them I love them, OK? And Piper. I always did..."

She watched him walked slowly sown the steps, then up the street before closing the door.

"It's over." She murmured.

----

"I didn't remember what he looked like." Piper said quietly. "At least, I don't remember him looking like that."

"Well, he's changed." Prue murmured. "The hair, the weight, the wrinkles..."

"The drink?" Penny mumbled. Prue nodded.

"It - it wasn't like that at first. At first it was... was fun. I missed you and mum, and Piper and Paige, but he would give us ice-cream, and cake, and whatever we wanted for dinner." She smiled vaguely. "Anything, even if it wasn't good for us. But when we said we wanted to go home, he'd shout. And then he started drinking and he'd shout more..." She trailed off, embarrassed by the look of horror on her sisters' and grandmother's faces. "It wasn't all bad..." She mumbled. Next thing she knew, she was being hugged, by her grandmother, like when she was little. A real hug, not a "I'm so glad to see you!" hug, but a warm, comforting one. She clung to her, not wanting it to end. She couldn't remember hugs like this. Just Phoebe, never from an adult... like a mother.

Grams released her, then hugged Phoebe. Prue watched her little sisters face light up, and smiled. For the first time, she truly believed they could get through this, and be that family everyone kept talking about...

----

School. It's not as bad as TV and books make out.

It's worse.

Phoebe stared as the huge building in disgust, wishing she could just run away. the graffiti on the gate, the huge crowd of people, the looks and whispers already... If Piper wasn't clinging to her, she would spin around and run for it.

Everyone looked around as they walked forwards. She saw people pointing, and the whispers were plenty, making her think of the wind in the trees...

"Nearly there." Paige mumbled on her other side. "Almost..."

----

"Do you think they're OK?" Patty asked nervously.

"I'm sure they are." Penny replied to the ghostly form of her daughter.

"What if the other kids hassle them?"

"Patty. Do you think any granddaughter of mine, any child of yours, would be unable to stand up for themselves?" Penny asked, hiding her own doubts badly. "I'm sure they're fine..."

----

Frustrated, Prue scribbled out the sum she had been working on, covering the several lines of numbers. She heard an explosion of laughter at the other side of the room, and tried to convince herself it wasn't because of her. The work had been deemed as "simple" by the maths teacher - a short, blading man, who Prue hated with passion.

"Everything OK, Prudence?" She hadn't even realised he was stood next to her.

"Fine." She snapped, sending him a dirty look. It was only her first lesson - second period, however, as she and Phoebe had spent the first hour having an induction to the school. Maybe it was because she had been dreading school since Grams first brought it up, but she hated it, everything about it.

"I'll help you." The teacher said, then sat himself down in the vacant chair next to her. "Look, all you have to do it..."

People were watching, and she hated it, but she listened anyway because she knew she needed to learn this crap. If this is life, it sucks.

----

Phoebe couldn't have been more different. People had been sympathetic, she had understood more that she'd though she would, and, now, sat in English, she felt confident enough to answer "Yes" when the English teacher, Mrs. Flower, asked her if she wanted to read aloud.

She read the paragraph shakily, but she did it, and received warm praise. Smiling to herself, she turned the page. "It isn't so bad." She mumbled.

----

"OK, so now you need to divide that number by that one." The boy told Prue. She punched the buttons on the calculator, and held it out for him to see.

"Is it right?" She asked.

"Does it look right?"

"I think so..." Prue murmured, looking at the figure.

"You're right. It is." His face cracked into a grin, and she smiled, a faraway expression taking over her face.

"What?" He asked. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm remembering you..." Prue smiled. Only half-an-hour ago, he'd walked into the class, late because of a dentist appointment, and he'd walked straight over to her and introduced himself. Andy. Little Andy who she used to play with, before it happened. He'd told her he'd wanted to come over to the manor since he'd heard, but he figured they'd want sometime alone first. Or, at least, his mother did.

"You've changed." She joked, and was delighted when he grinned again. She always liked to make him laugh... they were best friends, and once they'd agreed to marry one day.

"Do you remember when we decided we were going to marry each other?" He asked, and she nodded.

"I was just thinking about that. Your dad told us that everyone got married one day."

"And I said that all girls were yucky, excpet you." Andy continued.

"And I said all boys were gross, except you."

"So we decided we'd marry each other and then we wouldn't have to marry anyone else." He finished.

"I went home and told mum, and she said it wouldn't surprise her if we did." Prue smiled.

"I... I really missed you, when you were gone." He told her. "I was just a kid, but it was like a part of me was missing... I always felt that way." He added quietly.

"I missed you to." She replied. "And..." She smiled, lowered her voice. "I still think all boys are gross. Except you."

"And I still think all girls are yucky. Except you."

"Why don't you come over for dinner tonight?" She suggested. "Grams wouldn't mind."

"Sure. I'll be there. Time?"

"Same as it always was." Prue grinned.

Maybe, just maybe, life wasn't all that bad after all.