Not Quite Daddy
The afternoon passed by slowly. The girls were still up in the attic, flipping through the book with Leo. Victor had just brought down the lunch dishes and had begun to wash them in the sink. He was still reeling from the fact that his girls were going to have to face demons. He had seen a few when he and Patty were still together and that bothered him, especially for Phoebe. She was too young for all of this. Just as he dried the last dish footsteps echoed on the floor. He turned around to see Piper coming into the kitchen.
"Hey sweetheart," he greeted, putting the dish back in the cabinet.
"Hi Dad," the eight year old replied.
"Is everything ok?" he asked, putting the dish rag back under the sink.
"Yeah. I just came down because Prue was making fun of me," Piper explained.
"What was she saying?" he questioned. He ushered her over to the table.
"She said that I like Leo," the eight-year-old said, sounding disgusted. Victor couldn't help but laugh just a little.
"Well…that doesn't seem like a big deal," Victor murmured.
"But Dad…it's gross. Leo is a boy. Boys are gross," Piper shot back.
"I'm glad you feel that way, sweetie. You're too young to be interested in boys," Victor sighed, ruffling her hair. Just then Phoebe came running into the room.
"Piper…come on. Leo said we can say a spell," the five-year-old squealed excitedly.
"Only if Prue says she sorry," Piper said firmly. Phoebe let out a five-year-old huff and rand back up the stairs. She returned to the attic to find Leo putting together a pedestal.
"Prue, Piper said she won't come up. You have to say you're sorry first," the youngest of the sisters said, trying to catch her breath. The ten-year-old rolled her eyes but headed downstairs to apologize to her sister. She found her with Victor in the kitchen.
"I'm sorry Piper. I was only joking," Prue apologized, giving Piper a hug.
"Ok," her younger sister said, accepting the apology.
"So what exactly are you girls doing?" Victor queried, following his two older daughters up the stairs.
"Nothing. Its not for normal people," Prue answered, letting Piper go into the attic before. She followed and closed the door behind her. Just as Victor was about open the door, Prue squinted her eyes and the lock clicked. She turned to face a stern looking Leo.
"Prue. You can let him in. He can be here," Leo said sternly.
"But I don't want to. He can't do magic," Prue explained, her argument making logical sense in her head. Leo waved his hand at the door and the door unlocked. Victor walked in, looking pissed off.
"Just because he can't do magic, Prue, doesn't mean he shouldn't be here. He's still your father," Leo chided. Leo waved his hand at the door and the door unlocked. Victor walked in, looking pissed off.
"What exactly are you helping them do?" he addressed Leo.
"Just a simple spell. It should help you around the house just in case a demon attack and leaves a mess," Leo answered.
"Can we do it now?" Phoebe asked, jumping up and down in anticipation. Leo smiled at her and turned the book towards them on the pedestal. Piper grabbed an empty crate so Phoebe could stand on it to see the spell.
"Don't you need something to fix?" Victor inquired.
Leo picked up a couple of wooden blocks and other trinkets. He tossed them up in the and Piper froze a couple of them. The rest fell to the floor, breaking. They'd been practicing this part for a while. Prue sent the frozen objects to the ground, breaking them as well.
"Ok girls. Now you have to read the spell together," Leo instructed. Prue took Piper's hand in hers and Piper took Phoebe's.
"Let the object of objection become but a dream as I cause the seen the be unseen," the three of them read in a stagger unison. The blocks disappeared, reappearing on the shelf where Leo had gotten them. The broken trinkets were whole and back in their place as well.
"Daddy we did a spell!" Phoebe exclaimed, leaping off the crate and running over to him.
"I saw," Victor said, trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Dad, can Leo stay for dinner?" Piper asked as Prue shut the Book of Shadows.
"You like him," Prue taunted.
"I do not!" her younger sister protested.
"Girls, that's' enough," Victor scolded.
"Thank you for the offer, Piper. But I have to go soon. I have other people I have to help," Leo explained. Piper looked crestfallen. He bent down to her eye level and gave her a squeeze on the shoulder.
"But don't worry. Remember, you just have to call out my name and I'll be here," he told them all.
With that he disappeared in blue and white lighters again. Victor led his daughters downstairs. The three of them plopped down on the couch and turned on the television. Victor headed into the living room and pulled out some papers for work. He needed to get some work done regardless of whether his daughters were witches or not.
Down in the underworld Ravus and Janice were growing restless. They hadn't counted on Victor surviving. His survival ruined everything. They needed him out of the way to get to the girls and more importantly to the Nexus and its great power. With the power of the Nexus, they would be unstoppable, even to the Source himself.
"I don't understand how he could have survived," Janice ground out.
"Well you didn't count on their whitelighter showing up, did you," Ravus hissed.
"How was I supposed to know they even had a whitelighter. They just received their powers," Janice ranted.
"They are the Charmed Ones. The Elders would be watching them carefully. The first sin of any magic out of them and they'd send a damn arsenal of good magic to protect them," Ravus growled.
"Well then what do you propose we do?" she snapped at him.
"We can turn one of them. They are young and they still have the forty-eight hour window. If we turn one of them, they all turn. With them on our side, we will control the Nexus for sure," he answered.
"We can't get close enough to them. The father will suspect us now. And their whitelighter will sense us," Janice retorted.
"We could employ a darklighter to wound the whitelighter. And then go in and hold them hostage and take the Nexus," she suggested.
"That could work," Ravus agreed. They would wait until the next day. They needed to find a willing darklighter.
Night had fallen in San Francisco. Victor had just tucked Phoebe into bed. Piper was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and Prue was in her room changing into her pajamas.
"Daddy?" Phoebe called, just as Victor was about to leave the room.
"Yeah kiddo?" he replied.
"Do we have to go to school tomorrow?" she asked, her chin holding the covers in place.
"Yes. It's a school day tomorrow," he answered, blowing her a kiss. He passed Piper in the hallway.
"Have a good sleep honey. School in the morning," he told her, giving her a hug as he passed her.
"Night, Dad," she called and closed the door to her and Phoebe's room.
Victor stopped short at Prue's door. This was going to be awkward. He knocked and waited for her to open the door. She pulled it open and looked at him.
"Have a good night. School in the morning," he told her. She nodded and walked by him to go brush her teeth. He headed back downstairs to get some more work done and relax. Raising three girls on his own was a lot harder than it looked. He had to give Penny credit for keeping them safe the last two years. He wished he had Patty by his side in all of this. She could at least help them with the witch thing. It didn't seem fair that they had to depend on Leo when he couldn't be there all the time.
Back upstairs, Prue was just shutting her door and climbing into bed. She stared up the ceiling. This day had been one crazy day for sure. Finding out she and her sisters were witches with special powers was still an unsettling concept. Sure they had said a spell and it had worked but what if it didn't always work? And could she really trust that Leo would be there whenever they needed him? How did they know that he wouldn't just skip out on them like Victor had done so many times. She drifted off to sleep and her dreams were filled with something she hadn't seen in two years. It was her mother.
She was sitting on a grassy hill with her mother. It looked like summer or late spring by the way they were dressed. Patty was pouring them some lemonade. Prue couldn't help but smile. She missed her mother so much.
"Prue sweetie," Patty called, catching Prue's attention. The ten-year-old took the glass of the sweet drink.
"You know, not all men are bad," Patty began.
"Victor was," Prue interjected immediately.
"But Leo isn't. He wants to help you," her mother assured her.
"How do you know Leo?" Prue questioned.
"I asked him to watch of you and your sisters," Patty answered, sipping her lemonade, the ice cubes clinking against the glass.
"But how do you know he won't be like Victor?" she begged to know.
"They're both going to be there when you need them," Patty promised.
Suddenly the dream started to fade. Prue 's lips spread slightly into a smile. It was so nice to see her mother again. Little did she know that in the next room Phoebe was having a less pleasant dream.
Phoebe was seeing Grams in the kitchen cooking something that was bubbling a lot. Phoebe was trying to climb up on the counter to look into the pot. She managed to get up onto the counter just in time to be pulled into a premonition.
She saw Grams facing the demon from before. Suddenly she went flying over the foyer table and landed on the ground. It looked painful. The demon was advancing on Grams but she sent him flying.
Phoebe sat up straight in bed. Cold sweat was rolling down her neck and her face. She looked around, expecting to see the demon trying to get her. She was scared. She didn't know which part was a premonition or even if it was a premonition. She looked over to see Piper sound asleep. The five-year-old opened her mouth.
"Leo," she called out softly but nothing happened. Her brow furrowed and she tried louder this time.
"Leo!" she called as loudly as she could. Piper woke up at the shouting of her baby sister. She had called out loud enough to attract Victor. He had been on his way to bed. The room was lit up with blue and white orbs and Leo appear. By now Phoebe was whimpering. She climbed out of bed and climbed into his arms just as Victor opened the door.
"What's going on?" Victor demanded, seeing his youngest child curled up in Leo's arms.
"She called for me," Leo answered. It was the truth. He couldn't help that it was his name Phoebe called out instead of Victor.
"What's all the shouting about?" Prue asked, appearing too.
"I…had a bad dream," Phoebe announced, her voice was very small. She was still expecting the demon to show up.
"What happened?" Leo asked, setting her the edge of her bed.
"I was in the kitchen with Grams. She was making something. I was climbing onto the counter," she tried to remember before it all drifted out of her consciousness.
"Then what?" the whitelighter prompted.
"Then I saw the demon and Grams. He made her fly over the table and then she made go into the wall. Then I woke up," Phoebe answered. Leo rubbed her back gently to calm her down.
"It sounds like Phoebe had another premonition," Leo announced to the other three people in the room.
"She can have them when she's sleeping?" Victor asked and Leo nodded.
"So is this going to be a nightly occurrence?" he wanted ot know.
"I don't know. Premonitions are often times unpredictable. Phoebe is young and she is still very new to the craft. It is going to take her a while for her to be able to call a promotion," Leo explained. Victor looked angry his hands balled into fists.
"Phoebe, honey. If you have any more bad dreams. I want you to come to me first," he told the five-year-old. She nodded meekly and climbed back into bed. Leo told her goodnight and disappeared in blue and white. Prue watched him go and her mother's words rang in her ears. They're both going to be there when you need them