Chapter Three! Woo Hoo and it's beta'd too! By wildwolffree17 of course, lol! Short, but it's to the point.

Chapter Three

"But Mom—"

"The answer is no and that's final, Patricia!"

"That's not even fair! You're not even going to pretend to consider it?"

"Patricia! Ugh, just go to your room!"

Patricia glared angrily at her mother and promptly orbed to her room, taking the extra effort to slam her door shut. She ignored her mother's voice yelling about slamming doors and paced the floor furiously. In her fist she clenched the letter from a friend by the name of Roxanne Brule.

Roxanne and her family had been vacationing in San Francisco almost a year earlier. Patricia bumped into her one night at P3(she was allowed to check the stocks and make sure everything was running smoothly, but a drop of liquor before she was twenty-one and Piper would blow her up) and they had spent almost half the night chatting away. It was the first time Roxanne had been to San Francisco and she originally came from Smallville, a small but strange town in the middle of Kansas. For the rest of the summer, they'd hung out together at the mall or relaxing, and became best friends. For Patricia, Roxanne was the person she could go to and be herself without being compared to her family (Roxanne knew nothing about Patricia being a witch and she'd forgiven Patricia for the many times the witch had to go because of a 'family emergency') and for Roxanne, Patricia was the 'little sister' she'd never had (they were only a year apart). It was a sad day when the Brule family had to return to Kansas and the two friends had shared a tearful goodbye and promised to e-mail and write to each other.

They'd kept that promise to each other and usually had an online conversation every other day or so, and it surprised Patricia that Roxanne wrote her a letter. The contents of said letter were a request for Patricia to come spend some time with her in Smallville. Her parents, a retired and happily married couple, had taken up their traveling adventures, once again leaving Roxanne back in their hometown to run her underground café, Underworld. Patricia had been complaining to her through e-mails about her family and how she wished she could get away and find her own life and Roxanne believed coming to Smallville to live and work for her would be a great way for the youngest Halliwell to find her own identity.

Unfortunately, Patricia's family did not feel the same way. Her throat was still sore from arguing with her parents for almost an hour. Paige and Henry refused to allow their daughter to go halfway across the country to live with Roxanne, away from them. They'd come up with thousands of reasons: demons hunting Patricia, family emergencies, not being able to keep an eye on her, and Patricia being so far away from the family's protection. Patricia had countered that she was almost eighteen and had the right to choose if she wanted to go away and live with her friend. In a fit of anger, Patricia had blurted out that she wasn't nearly as important as her cousins and siblings, and the only way any demon would come after her is if they were desperate. Neither Paige nor Henry had a retort and the Charmed One had sent Patricia up to her room.

Patricia, of course, found it completely unfair that her parents wouldn't even consider the proposition, and the hope that'd started to rise in her of finally being able to be herself away from the influence of her family, had died. Patricia stalked to her bedside table and ripped open the bottom drawer, pulling out her laptop and logging on. It was in growing frustration that Patricia realized Roxanne was not online and she slammed her computer closed, throwing it onto the bed. She slid to the floor, hugging a pillow to her chest and blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. Just once in her life, Patricia wished something would go her way.

A soft knock on the door and Patricia looked up to find Aunts Phoebe and Piper poking their heads around the door. "Hey, can we come in?" Phoebe asked softly. Patricia shrugged and returned her attention to her beige carpet. Piper and Phoebe stepped in; the oldest taking a seat on the bed by Patricia's head and the other sitting crossed legged on the floor.

"You okay, honey?" Piper asked, running her hand through her niece's dark hair. Patricia mutely shook her head no knowing there was no point in lying.

"Patty, I know you think your mom's being unfair, but she's only doing what she thinks is best," Phoebe said soothingly.

Patricia snapped her head up with a glare. "Aunt Phoebe, I'm almost eighteen! If I don't start making my own decisions now, what am I supposed to do? Let Mom and Dad do everything for me?"

"We're not saying that, Patty. It's just that the thought of you moving away to live with Roxanne in Kansas worries us."

"I'm not saying it's going to be a piece of cake, either! I know it's not, but haven't you ever wanted to get away? Make a life of your own?"

The sisters shared a look over Patricia's head in understanding. After all, before they'd learned of their destiny had the sisters not lived their own lives? Phoebe had gone to New York to reinvent herself. Paige, years ago when she had first become a Charmed One, had wished many times she could go away and not feel as if she had to fill Prue's shoes. Now Patricia was going through the same thing.

"We know, honey. We know," Piper said with a sigh, bending to place a kiss atop Patricia's head.

"I know, too." The three women looked up to find Paige standing in the doorway, headmistress robes gone and a sad frown on her red lips. Piper and Phoebe stood and left, leaving mother and daughter alone.

Paige took the seat on the bed where Piper had been. "You really want to go?" she asked her daughter quietly. Patricia heard the unspoken question: Do you really want to get away from me? She stood up on her knees and faced Paige, grabbing her hands. "Mom, this isn't about leaving you or the family. I love all of you, but I need to get away and be my own person. I'm tired of being under Wyatt and Paris' shadows. I want to go somewhere people won't judge me. Please, Mom." Patricia was not someone who spent much time pleading, which Paige very well knew. "Besides, you know Roxy. She can keep anyone in track," Patricia joked weakly.

Paige smiled and thought hard, eyeing her youngest. After what seemed like ages to Patricia, her mother spoke.

"Alright, you can go."