Disclaimer: Charmed is the property of Constance Burge, Brad Kern and Spelling Entertainment. The Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. All other not easily recognizable characters and places are imaginary and belong to me. I do not make any money off this fan-fiction.
Chapter 6: Happy Birthday, Emily!
Carriage Apartments
2562 Porter Lane
Juliana Landings, Maine, USA
September 12, 2031
5:30 pm
The aroma of water chestnuts, baby corn, carrots, broccoli, sugar snap peas, red peppers and mushrooms cooking in vegetable oil in a frying pan permeates the apartment. Marianne waits for the mixture to cook a little bit and sprinkles some soy sauce. Next, Marianne takes a plate out of the cabinet and plops stir-fry into her plate with the wooden stirring spoon. Afterwards, she grabs a fork from the top drawer next to the sink, turns on the television and settles down on the sofa to watch some mindless television show to keep her mind off how much she misses Emily. However, her memories of Emily creep into her consciousness and haunt her.
When Emily left, Marianne thought that the landlord would provide her with another apartment-mate. Surely, there had to be somebody who was searching for an apartment. Marianne even put a notice in the Heartland Falls Gazette, the official newspaper of Heartland Falls University, but nobody responded, which was a little strange since the fall term had already started.
"Maybe students who were on the wait-list for the dormitories decided to live with their parents and commute to the university," Marianne thinks.
Marianne couldn't imagine living at home.
She liked her freedom. She could do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted as long as she paid her share of the rent and paid for her share of the groceries. Emily even planned some activities for them to do like Movie Night. On Movie Night, Emily and Marianne would rent a movie and watch it, while eating pizza and drinking grape juice.
Although, they are old enough to drink alcohol, Emily did not even want to see the bottle because it brought memories of her grandmother's first husband who had beaten her grandmother just because he lost his promotion at work. Emily's grandmother had divorced her first husband and remarried. Marianne empathized with Emily and respected her wishes since that was the only request Emily had made.
However, that didn't stop Marianne from drinking alcohol. She just drank at every restaurant that had a bar. Then, she would call Emily to drive her home and Emily, bless her soul, would rush over from wherever she was and drive Marianne back to the apartment. Marianne would always wake up the next day with a throbbing headache and Emily would silently hand Marianne a glass of water and aspirin to relieve the banging in her head. Marianne would promise herself that she would never drink again, but someone would announce that there was a party and Marianne would be there, drinking away her troubles and Emily would take care of her each time.
"Emily must be my guardian angel," Marianne thinks.
There was no other explanation. How could anyone care so much for another human being? Marianne knew that if she had lived at home her parents would have cried and probably placed her under house arrest until she gave up alcohol.
Emily was cleverer than that. She told Marianne to keep a notebook and write down the date she drank alcohol and how much alcohol she had consumed. Just to please Emily, Marianne started keeping that diary. She even read it again at the end of every week and calculated the total amount of alcohol she consumed. Emily also showed her pictures of what her organs might look like if she continued drinking alcohol. It was easy to ignore the numbers at first, but the very act of documenting her alcohol consumption forced Marianne to see that she was hurting herself. So, she started finding alternatives to get the same high as the alcohol gave her. When she had troubles with her class-work, Emily would tutor her or arrange for someone else to tutor her. When it was boyfriend trouble, Emily would take her shopping and she would see a dress she absolutely had to have and she would forget about Brad or Brian or whoever her boyfriend was.
Because of Emily, Marianne stopped drinking alcohol, but she was now wishing she had never stopped. Marianne felt so lonely.
"Maybe Emily is feeling just as lonely as me. She is in a new city, where she doesn't know anybody. I know I promised to visit her for her birthday. When is her birthday, anyway?" Marianne thinks as she pulls down the calendar from the refrigerator and sees that September 16th is circled in red marker and that "Happy Birthday, Emily!" is written in the September 16th square in the same red marker.
"Emily's birthday is in four days. I better call Hannah and see if her billionaire husband will let us use his private jet to get to San Francisco," Marianne thinks.
Bailey Manor
6749 Gertrude Lane
Juliana Landings, Maine, USA
6:00 pm
Ring! Ring!
"Hi, Miss!" a maid says as she picks up the phone.
"Hi! May I speak to Mrs. Hannah Bailey?" Marianne asks.
"Wait a moment, please," the maid says as she goes upstairs and knocks on Hannah's bedroom door.
"What is it?" Hannah asks when she opens the door and sees the maid standing in front of her door.
"There is a call for you, ma'am," the maid says.
"Thank you, Sara," Hannah says to the maid as she makes her way downstairs and picks up the phone.
"Hello," Hannah says.
"Hi, Hannah!" Marianne says.
"Oh, it's you. I was hoping it was a dashing ambassador from Austria," Hannah says.
"Very funny," Marianne says.
"Anyway, I am calling to ask if we can use your husband's private jet to get to San Francisco so that we can visit Emily," Marianne continues.
"Why are we going to see Emily and who are we exactly?" Hannah asks.
"Emily's birthday is in four days and Jackie, you and I promised her we would visit her for her birthday. Emily is all alone in a new city where she has no friends. She needs us," Marianne says.
"Okay! Okay! I will call Carson at the office and tell him that I'm going to use his private jet to visit Emily," Hannah says.
"I'll be waiting for your call," Marianne says as she hangs up the phone.
Bailey & Sons
8436 Primrose Avenue
Juliana Landings, Maine, USA
September 12, 2031
6:15 pm
"Hello!" Carson says.
"Hi, darling! How are you?" Hannah says.
"I'm tired. It has been a long day. One of the parts to a computer was not delivered on time today," Carson says.
"Will you be coming home tonight?" Hannah asks.
"I do not know," Carson says.
"Then, I guess now is not a good time to ask you for a favor," Hannah says.
"What is the favor?" Carson asks a little intrigued.
"It is Emily's birthday in four days and I promised her I would visit her for her birthday," Hannah says.
"Where does she live?" Carson asks as he tries to picture who Emily is and fails.
"She just moved to San Francisco, but she used to live right here in Juliana Landings," Hannah says.
"What does she look like?" Carson asks.
"She has red curly hair and green eyes. She is 5'7" tall and sings in the church choir. She also collects canned food for the homeless during Thanksgiving," Hannah says.
"Now, I remember Emily. I like her. Hannah likes to pretend she is a self-absorbed ice queen, but underneath it all Hannah has a heart of gold and Emily brings out Hannah's compassion," Carson thinks.
"That sounds reasonable, love. Take my private jet," Carson says.
"Do you want to come?" Hannah asks.
"Yes, but only if you want me to come," Carson says.
"Then, come. I am pretty sure Emily will not mind," Hannah says.
"See you later, love," Carson says.
"Not yet, darling. We still need to figure out where and when to meet," Hannah says.
"I'll clear my schedule from September 14, 2031, to September16, 2031, and your friends can come at 6:30 pm to Bailey Manor on September 14, 2031." Carson says.
Bye, darling" Hannah says.
"See you later, love," Carson says as he hangs up the phone.
Carriage Apartments
2562 Porter Lane
Juliana Landings, Maine, USA
September 12, 2031
6:30 pm
Ring! Ring!
"Hi!" Marianne says as she picks up the telephone receiver.
"Hi, Marianne! This is Hannah. Carson said that we can use the jet," Hannah says.
"When and where should we meet?" Marianne asks.
"Let's meet here at Bailey Manor at 6:30 pm in two days," Hannah says.
"Thanks, Hannah. I will call Jackie now. See you later," Marianne says.
Hunter's Trail Apartments
4511 Cobblestone Way
Juliana Landings, Maine, USA
September 12, 2031
6:35 pm
Jackie is sitting in her bathtub that is full of soapy bubbles when the phone rings. She waits until the answering machine answers the call and hears:
"Jackie, this is Marianne. Emily's birthday is in four days and Hannah, you and I promised to visit her for her birthday. Hannah already arranged for us to travel on her husband's private jet to San Francisco. Call me back when you get this message," Marianne says.
Jackie sits in her bath for another 20 minutes and gets dressed. Then, she calls Marianne.
Carriage Apartments
2562 Porter Lane
Juliana Landings, Maine, USA
September 12, 2031
7:00 pm
Ring! Ring!
"Hello!" Marianne says.
"Hi, Marianne! Yes, I will join you for Emily's birthday. Where and when do we meet?" Jackie asks.
"Meet Hannah and me at Bailey Manor at 6:30 pm in two days," Marianne says.
"Okay. See you in two days," Jackie says and hangs up the phone.
Oceanside Apartments
Ocean-view Drive
San Francisco, CA, USA
September 14, 2031
11:00 pm
Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
Emily opens the door to find Hannah, Carson, Jackie and Marianne standing outside her door.
"Come on in," Emily says as she hugs Hannah, Jackie and Marianne and shakes hands with Carson.
Emily leads Hannah, Jackie, Marianne and Carson to the living room.
"Come sit on the couch," Emily says as she goes to the dining room, pulls a couple of cherry wood chairs with white cushions from the dining room table and places them so that the chairs face the couch.
"Mr. Bailey, you can sit here on the dining room chair," Emily says as she sits in the other dining room chair.
"Well, this is a surprise, but why are you here?" Emily asks.
"We are here for your birthday, Emily," Marianne says.
"Oh! Is it already my birthday?" Emily asks.
"Your birthday is in two days," Jackie says.
"Emily, how come you cannot remember your own birthday?" Hannah asks.
"I must be very tired," Emily says.
"I have been trying to adjust to life here, but it is hard. I am interning and going to law school. I study late into the night and I have to wake up early in the morning. If that is not bad enough, I dream of a blond-haired, blue-eyed man. Every night, there is a different scene. Two nights ago, I dreamed that the blond-haired man and I were sitting on a red and white-checked blanket under a tree at Golden Gate Park and we were eating turkey sandwiches. Last night, he was fighting a raven-haired man with midnight-blue eyes. In the middle of the fight, he shouted, "Excalibur!" and like magic the sword came to him," Emily says.
"On the other hand, I have made some friends. They want to take me to a club called P3 for my birthday. I told them that I have some friends with whom I will be celebrating and they told me to bring you to P3 as well," Emily continues.
"Where will we eat dinner?" Jackie asks.
"I do not know. I guess P3 has some food," Emily says.
"P3 probably sells nachos and peanuts," Marianne says.
"Okay, I will call Melinda and find out where we are going for dinner," Emily says as she goes to her bedroom and searches through her purse for her cellular phone.
Halliwell Manor
1329 Prescott Street
San Francisco, CA, USA
September 14, 2031
11:30 pm
Ring! Ring!
"Hello," Melinda says as she picks up the telephone receiver.
"Hi, Mel! This is Emily. I just wanted to know where we are going to eat dinner before going to P3. I assumed P3 would have some food, but my friend pointed out that P3 sells only finger food like nachos with cheese," Emily says.
"We will be going to the Charmed Restaurant," Melinda says.
"Okay! Well, then, good night!" Emily says.
"Emily, I have something to ask you," Melinda says.
"Go ahead and ask," Emily says.
"May I bring some extra friends with me?" Melinda asks.
"Who are these extra friends?" Emily asks.
"Albus and Lily," Melinda says.
"Would Albus be your honorary older brother, Al?" Emily asks.
"Do I think of Albus as my older brother? Chris and Wyatt fill that role, but do Albus and James play that role in my life? Well, Albus and James did scare away a couple of my boyfriends after I found out they were cheating on me and Albus danced with me at prom when my date bailed on me. In addition, Chris thinks of Uncle Harry as dad. All of these facts add up to the fact that James and Albus are my older brothers," Melinda thinks.
"Yes, Al is my honorary older brother. When did you meet him?" Melinda asks.
"We worked on a project together in one of my law school classes," Emily says.
"Yes, you can bring Al and whoever Lily is to my birthday party, Mel," Emily continues.
"Well, see you later, Emily," Melinda says.
"Good night, Mel!" Emily says as she hangs up the phone.
Charmed Restaurant
San Francisco, CA, USA
September 16, 2031
7:00 pm
"Hi! Follow me to your table," Jennifer, Prue's brown-haired, brown-eyed adopted daughter, says as she grabs a stack of menus and leads Melinda, Amanda, Albus, Rick, Meena, Lily, Julie, Ming, Tasha, Hannah, Carson, Jackie, Marianne and Emily to a long table in the special room at the back of the Charmed Restaurant, which is reserved for birthday parties and wedding receptions.
Melinda, Amanda, Albus, Rick, Meena, Lily, Julie, Ming, Tasha, Hannah, Carson, Jackie, Marianne and Emily sit in the cherry wood chairs with velvet red cushions on them.
"What would you like to drink?" Jennifer asks.
"We are going to P3 later on tonight. So, please bring water for everybody," Melinda says.
"Does everyone want water?" Jennifer asks.
Everyone nods.
"Okay, I will bring those glasses of water to you soon," Jennifer says and walks over to another table to ask if they need anything.
When Jennifer returns to Melinda's table, she serves each person at Melinda's table water in a red glass and asks, "Would you like to order now?"
"I would like the filet mignon," Albus says.
"What about the rest of you?" Jennifer asks.
"Melinda has told us that the lasagna is delicious. So, we want to taste it," Amanda says.
"It won't be as delicious as the lasagna Mel's mom makes, but I think the chef can prepare decent lasagna with Mel's mom's recipe," Jennifer says with a wink.
"Will there be anything else?" Jennifer asks.
"Yes, today is Emily's birthday. Please bring her a slice of Mom's famous cheesecake with strawberry topping and put some candles on it," Melinda whispers into Jennifer's ear.
"I will return with your food soon, Jennifer says.
Everyone stares at each other or admires the red velvet curtains that cover the doorway to the special room. Photographs of the long line of strong Halliwell witches, starting with an oil painting of Melinda Warren hang on the cherry wood-paneled wall across from the doorway. In the center of the wall, underneath a photograph of Prue, there is an aquarium full of fish from neon tetra fish to angelfish on a cherry wood table. In addition, a fern graces each corner of the special room and there is a flower arrangement of white jasmine flowers on every table.
After Jennifer serves them their food, they sing the "Happy Birthday" song to Emily. Then, they all eat.
P3
San Francisco, CA, USA
September 16, 2031
9:00 pm
Melinda leads Amanda, Albus, Rick, Meena, Lily, Julie, Ming, Tasha, Hannah, Carson, Jackie, Marianne and Emily to a table at P3. Next, Melinda, Albus and Carson push three tables together and they sit down.
Aisling comes by their table, hands out the menu and says, "Hi, my name is Aisling. I will be your waitress for today. Is there anything you would like to drink?" Aisling shouts in order to be heard over the rock and roll music the band on stage is playing.
"Who wants a margarita?" Melinda asks.
Julie, Ming, and Tasha raise their hands.
"Who wants tequila?" Melinda asks.
Albus, Rick, Meena and Amanda raise their hands.
"Who wants a piña colada?" Melinda asks.
Carson, Hannah, Jackie, Marianne, Melinda and Emily raise their hands.
"Could you please make a nonalcoholic piña colada for Marianne and me?" Emily asks.
"Certainly," Aisling says.
"Then, that makes three margaritas, four tequilas and six piña coladas," Melinda says.
Aisling writes down the order and hands the piece of paper to Chris who is mixing a margarita.
"Hey, beautiful!" Chris says to Aisling.
"Hey, handsome!" Aisling says to Chris as she bats her eyelashes.
"Stop flirting and get back to work," Piper shouts from the backroom of P3, where she is counting inventory.
"How does she know what we are doing?" Chris asks.
"It must be a mom thing," Aisling says as Chris hands the margarita he was mixing to a customer.
Next, he looks at the order on the piece of paper Aisling handed to him, quickly mixes the drinks and hands them to Aisling. Then, Aisling returns to Melinda's table and serves each person their drink.
After Aisling leaves, everyone stares at each other until Emily realizes that she hasn't introduced her friends from Maine to her new friends in San Francisco.
"Carson, Hannah, Jackie and Marianne, meet Amanda, Ming, Tasha, Julie, Meena, Rick, Al and Melinda," Emily says as she points to each person.
I worked with Amanda, Al, Meena and Rick on a project in Dr. Sutton's class and I met Ming, Tasha, Julie and Melinda at Old Joe's Coffee-shop last week," Emily continues.
"Everyone, meet Lily, my younger sister," Albus says when Emily finishes speaking.
So, what is your occupation? Carson asks Ming, Tasha, Julie and Melinda.
"I am a medical school student," Ming says.
"I am a graduate student of theatre," Julie says.
"I am studying physical therapy in graduate school," Tasha says.
"Lily and I just received a bachelor's degree," Melinda says.
"What is your occupation?" Ming asks Carson.
"I own a computer manufacturing company. My wife, Hannah, is a housewife," Carson says.
"I am a fashion designer," Jackie says.
"I landed my first job as a reporter at the Juliana Landings Gazette," Marianne says.
"Congratulations, Marianne!" Emily says.
Then, Carson asks Hannah, "Love, may I have this dance?"
"Yes," Hannah replies as Carson leads Hannah to the dance floor.
Then, Melinda goes to the deejay and tells him to play a romantic love song.
When the deejay changes the song, some people leave, while other couples join Hannah and Carson on the dance floor.
Emily nudges Amanda and whispers into her ear, "Ask Al to dance with you."
"I will ask Albus to dance if you kiss the guy of my choice and dance with him," Amanda whispers into Emily's ear.
"Okay," Emily says reluctantly as Amanda rubs her hands together with glee.
"Who should I choose?" Amanda thinks as she scans the crowd.
Most of the men are too tall or too short or too scrawny.
Then she spots a blonde-haired man talking to the brown-haired bartender.
"The bartender must be the waitress' boyfriend since she flirts with him every time she hands him someone's order, but the blonde-haired man will do just fine," Amanda thinks.
"Emily, do you see that blonde-haired man talking to the brown-haired bartender?" Amanda asks.
"Yes," Emily says.
"Kiss him and dance with him," Amanda says.
Meanwhile, at the bar, Wyatt is talking to Chris.
"Chris, give me a beer," Wyatt says.
"Wy, I will not give you a beer. The last time you drank a beer was when Alyssa and you broke up in your junior year of college and I had to drag you home and explain to Mom why you were drunk and singing songs about monkeys and coconuts," Chris says.
"Don't remind me. I remember the day Alyssa broke my heart as if it was yesterday," Wyatt says.
Flashback begins.
Wyatt enters his apartment after football practice to find Alyssa sitting on the couch with her hands in her lap.
"What is wrong, Alyssa?" Wyatt asks.
"Wyatt, I need some space. I do not know if you are the right person for me. Please give me the freedom to date other people," Alyssa says.
"Do you already have someone else in your life?" Wyatt calmly asks.
"Yes," Alyssa confesses.
"Does he love you? Do you love him?" Wyatt asks.
"I don't know for both questions, but I want to find out," Alyssa says.
"Bye, Alyssa. You can see yourself out," Wyatt says through gritted teeth as he points to the door.
After Alyssa leaves, Wyatt quietly closes the door and heads to his bed in his bedroom, where he snuggles under the covers and cries himself to sleep.
Flashback ends.
"I came to talk to you about something else. I have been dreaming of a red-haired, green-eyed woman for the past two weeks. Every night there is a different scene. Last night, I dreamed that a dark-lighter shot an arrow at the red-haired, green-eyed woman and that she died in my arms before I was able to pull out the arrow and heal her," Wyatt says.
"Wy, I am not sure what to tell you, but I do believe you," Chris says.
Just then, a red-haired, green-eyed woman spins Wyatt's chair so that he faces her, runs her fingers through Wyatt's hair and kisses him. Tentatively, at first, but then she deepens the kiss.
Wyatt is taken completely by surprise, but he returns her kiss with equal fervor.
When they break apart for air, the woman drags Wyatt to the dance floor as a love song plays in the background.
"Thank you," Emily softly says to Wyatt when the song ends.
Then, she turns around and heads to her chair next to Amanda.
"Now it is your turn, Amanda," Emily says as she touches her lips where the blonde-haired man kissed her and feels her cheeks getting warm.
"What a kiss!" Amanda says.
"Where is Al, anyway?" Amanda asks.
"He is dancing with Tasha," Meena says as she returns to her seat after dancing with Rick.
"Wish me luck!" Amanda says as she heads over to Al.
"They make a cute couple," Meena observes.
"Who?" Emily asks.
"Al and Amanda make a cute couple," Meena says.
"Did you and Al ever date?" Emily asks Meena out of curiosity.
"Yes, we tried for one week in college, but we found out that we are better as friends than as lovers," Meena says as she and Emily watch Amanda tap Albus on the shoulder.
"May I cut in?" Amanda asks Tasha.
Tasha nods and returns to her seat, while Amanda dances with Albus.
"You dance well," Amanda says to Albus.
"Thank you. My dad made sure I learned how to dance because he did not want a repeat performance of his experience at a ball when he was 14 years old" Albus says.
"Your dad doesn't know how to dance?" Amanda asks.
"Dad knows how to dance now, but when he was 14 years old he did not know how to dance because Grandma died when he was a year old and nobody taught him how to dance. Needless to say, Dad danced the first dance at the Yule Ball because he was required to do so and spent the rest of the night with Ron, his best friend, and the Patil twins (Parvati and Padma), their dates. They watched the other couples dance, even though Parvati and Padma wanted to dance and listened to Uncle Ron complain about Victor Krum dancing with Aunt Hermione," Albus says.
"Your family sounds interesting," Amanda says.
The song ends and Albus returns to his seat with Amanda on his arm.
Meanwhile, Wyatt returns to the bar to talk to Chris after Emily leaves him alone on the dance floor.
"That was some kiss," Chris says when Wyatt takes a seat on one of the bar stools.
"Chris, I think I have found her," Wyatt says.
"Do you think she is the woman in your dreams?" Chris asks.
"I don't know, but I think she is the One," Wyatt says.
"The One?" Chris skeptically asks since Wyatt refers to every girl that he dates as the One, only to find out a week later that she cheated on him.
"She is my Aisling. I think I am going to marry her, someday," Wyatt says.
"Here is your chance to find out, Wy. She is coming this way," Chris says.
"Hi!" Emily says as she approaches the bar and holds her hand out for Chris to shake.
"May I help you?" Chris asks after shaking Emily's hand.
"Yes, I need a job. Are you hiring?" Emily asks.
"Wait right here," Chris says as he disappears into the backroom of P3 and returns with Piper.
"May I help you?" Piper asks.
"I am looking for a job. Are you hiring?" Emily asks.
"What is your name?" Piper asks.
"My name is Emily Blake," Emily replies.
"Oh! This is the innocent from Melinda's premonition," Piper thinks.
"Are you good with numbers?" Piper asks.
"Yes," Emily says.
"Good! You can help me count the inventory here at P3," Piper says.
"Does that mean that I have a job?" Emily asks.
"Yes," Piper says.
"Will you please give my first paycheck now so that I can pay for my car and the insurance on my car?" Emily asks.
Piper opens the cash register and takes out $800.
"Here you go, Emily," Piper says as she hands the $800 to Emily.
"Thank you! You won't regret this!" Emily says.
Then, she runs outside and screams and jumps up and down.
"That is one happy woman. I cannot believe she is going to be our innocent," Piper says as she hears Emily's shouts of joy.
"Was it a good idea to give her the money, Mom?" Chris asks.
"Yes, I believe she will work twice as hard to earn that money. Besides, it makes her happy," Piper says.
Like Emily, a young man would soon receive an unexpected surprise.