A/N: This is a shorter chapter and wasn't originally going to be apart of the story but I got to thinking and I realized something…or someone very important from this story was missing. So here they are, another sweet little fluff scene chapter. Hope you're enjoying this! Read away!
Black soul and fiery eyes
A creature that I such despise
With the end of this spell
I send this demon straight to hell
Just as she lost her grip and plunged an athamae deep into the flesh of a lower level demon, Pattie tumbled backwards over the banister. The words were a finishing touch just in case the athamae didn't do the trick; a spell from memory that always worked as a last resort. After all, desperate times called for desperate measures, didn't they? She hit the ground with a thud as the demon threw his hands high above his head, cursing up a storm and swearing revenge on her as he was cloaked in bright red and orange flames. They burned to Pattie's satisfaction as he growled and squirmed, fighting to free himself of an obvious peril. Finally he let a scream that made Pattie cover her ears to avoid going deaf as the demon finally succumbed to the agony of the flames.
Thankful that she'd only been on the first level of the staircase before the demon had used his last bit of power to whip her backwards, Pattie rubbed her aching head and began to push herself when her entire family came charging down the stairs. Piper noticed Pattie sprawled out on the floor immediately.
"Oh god, what happened? A demon?" she asked fearfully, inspecting her niece for any obvious damage.
"Came out of no where," Pattie moaned as Phoebe gave her a hand and helped her stand up. Besides a few bruises she was virtually unharmed, a blessing. "But I got him," she wrapped herself in Phoebe's arms, comforted.
"Of course you did," Penny egged her on proudly. "That's what we witches do."
Pattie rolled her eyes, "He didn't recognize me, so don't be surprised if the underworld is simmering with news that there's a new witch in town," she declared, beaming with pride. "And I did it all without my powers, which wasn't easy. I had to rely on good old inner strength." It had been a difficult encounter without powers to be dependent on; he'd found her in the kitchen while she'd been preparing herself some toast, a quick meal because every witch knew you didn't time travel on an empty stomach. After using some furniture and minor objects as shields and fighting him off, she'd gone after the athamae the creature threw at her which had stuck in the wall, parallel to the first that had landed there, the day prior. It had ended with his death, fortunately.
Relieved to see that Pattie was mainly unharmed, the Halliwell women went back to what they did best; waiting. Penny and Patty climbed the stairs slowly with Phoebe by their side but Piper hung back for a second, examining the damage.
"Yeah, sorry if I cost you a little bit more money due to my lack of magical ability," Pattie said as she noticed the burnt materials, some smoking and others completely non-restorable.
Piper grabbed a handful of a cotton blanket off the head of a couch, the fabric hot and smoldered in her hands. "Don't worry about it, we leave the inexpensive items out here for a reason, remember?" Pattie nodded, laughing. "You said you did this without your powers, right?" Another nod. "Wow, next generation really is power."
Pattie replied with an uncomfortable smile, "Sometimes it gets me in trouble. Like now."
"I'm sorry if I'm prying, but what are your powers anyway?" Piper inquired, finishing her overview and heading back towards the stairs, but Pattie flashed her a warning look. "Oh, possibly future-changing information, huh? I can't know because it'll affect my future too?"
"Sorry," Pattie apologized. Truth was, she wasn't in the mood to explain her powers. Telekinesis, astral projection, and cyrokinises (the ability to blow ice from her mouth recovered from her mother's past life) were the ones Piper knew by this point in her life, but invisibility and deflection had still yet to develop. Going in to that would lead to more talk about next generation and then, Pattie realized, talk about Leo and children. That could be troublesome, bringing them up, so Pattie backed away from it. Piper shrugged and headed up the stairs.
By now they had learned not to push it with Pattie, if she didn't want to talk, she wouldn't.
Pattie watched her go, her eyes following Piper up the stairs before following her entirely.
When they had reached the hallway of the second floor, Pattie made a detour route, turning into her younger self's bedroom and shutting the door behind her. Pattie's family wouldn't bother her if she was alone; she'd be sensitive enough the entire time she'd been in 2000. Pattie just needed one moment by herself.
The harsh reality of the demon attack had hit her. She hated them; she hated always having to look over her shoulder and waiting for the moment where a demon would take something else away.
A couple steps higher on the stairs and it could have been her.
There was still time before Prue would be back with what was missing and Leo was on his way as soon as he was free of his charge. She needed them to be there before she explained what her plan was. It was a requirement.
Pattie approached the mirror hanging above her dresser and noticed the medium sized teddy bear sitting on the corner with its furry arms holding a picture frame coated in shells. Inside the frame was a sterling picture of the perfect family. Three figures, Prue and Andy with a tiny Pattie, one of each of their arms wrapped securely around her waist. Pattie, her hair pulled into tight braids and cascading down either shoulder was their center with her hands clasped together and her shoulders raised, showing off a perky five-year-old smile with the same bear rested comfortably between her arms. There were three wide smiles on each of their faces, as if the world could never touch them. Her eyes swelled with intense grief, blinking back tears. Placing her hands on the bear's head and rubbing it, Pattie closed her eyes. "Daddy," she whimpered.
"Right here, baby."
Immediately Pattie's eyes snapped open and she turned around to see the ghost of her father standing in her room and talking to her. He stood tall as he always had with the genial smile, waiting for her.
Pattie rubbed her eyes, smudging her makeup and thinking they were deceiving her. When the picture of Andy didn't faze, not after a minute had passed and he was still standing there clear as a bell awaiting her next move, Pattie realized that this wasn't some cruel joke. He was really there. "Daddy!" she yelped, throwing herself into his loving arms and kissing him.
Andy held tight to the little girl he thought he'd never share words with again. "My precious daughter."
"Are you really here and not just my imagination?" she queried, her heart pounding.
"Of course I am. I knew you needed me, so the Elders allowed me to come as a bit of salvation for you. As one last effort to help you get home, to guide you to where you need to be."
"For a person who was never too into magic, you sound like some sort of prophet dad," Pattie pointed out, her lips curving into a smile. "Looks like the heavens have done you well," she noted approvingly.
Andy grasped the shoulders of his only daughter and held her out in front of him. He took in her features, each one mirroring Pattie's mothers and Andy's only true love. She looked so beautiful to him, so mature and grown up and he kicked himself for not being around to witness it, although he had been the key in saving her life. He and Prue had created this, their little miracle, and she was beautiful, she was an angel.
"In all my life, I never thought I'd be responsible for something so cherished, so beautiful," he ran a hand down her cheek, but Pattie was too stunned to do anything but stare at the man she hadn't seen in over nine years.
Then, she began to cry.
"Oh, great," she mumbled despondently. "Here, I go again." Andy led her to the bed and sat with his arm placed firmly on her shoulder. "Daddy, I hate these demons, I hate them. They took you away, Mom, everything. I thought being back here might have been a gift, but it was just a reminder of what magic does to family, to lives. It makes everything I love disappear." Since the Ultimate Battle nearly two years ago, demons had been sparse in Pattie's world. They often went months before an unexpected attack and they were usually meager low-level demons who were easy kills; Pattie had nearly forgotten how much evil demons actually harnessed.
Andy didn't know what to say. He didn't live with magic; he didn't know how much it had and would affect his daughter for the rest of her life as she knew it.
Pattie sniffled, "It makes it harder to go back to the future, knowing all I've lost and just keep going like it didn't happen. Why does life have to be so difficult and why do I have to do it alone? I want to go back but…it's hard."
Again, Andy was at a loss for words.
He soothed her by gently kissing her forehead, picking and choosing the right words that would hopefully be of come consolation to her. "I know I don't have much of a clue what your future holds for you, but you need to go back to it because it's yours. You belong there, just like I have to go back to heaven and watch you from afar, because that's my job. We don't have to like it, but some people choose to savor every happy moment they can find and focus on the positive they've got. From what I can see, you've got your health, those beautiful eyes, that radiant smile, and up there is that family who will stand by your side through it all.
"You're not alone, Pattie, even when you think you are. I'm sure your family has grown by 2008 and there are many people relying on you to come home. Your mother and I are always going to be with you, supporting you, inspiring you. You don't ever have to worry about that
"Your life is special, Pattie. You can do things a million other people wish they could, even if it comes with flaws. Just like I did, you save lives."
Andy crossed the room and grabbed the frame and the bear Pattie had been admiring. He handed them both to her, watching the frown quickly morph into a smile as she cuddled the bear to her chest and gazed as the picture, the memory.
"You were five; it was right after I had come back into your lives. She must have told you who I was because you stuck to me like glue, so I treated you two to a day on the boardwalk. All three of us had the best time, especially when I won that bear for you. It was the only thing you wanted the entire day, you called it Andy too."
"For you," Pattie reminisced. The bear was white as snow, it's powder colored fur still soft and new. It's eyes connected with Pattie, the only of two stuffed animals she'd refused to part with. It still slept on her bed beside the stuffed dog her mother had given her as an infant. "You played at least 20 games before those bottles finally knocked over," she laughed softly remembering the trick of the glass bottles on the boardwalk.
"And then I told you about the trick of the boardwalk and how they messed with the supplies to make it harder and to never fall for it," Andy explained, falling into his own memory. It'd been one of the best days of his life, even if he hadn't actually known the importance of the two people he was spending it with.
Pattie rested her head on that of the bear's, smiling despite her distress. "Yeah, you said to just get ice cream instead because they couldn't screw with something as good as ice cream. So we did," Pattie managed a laugh, "and then Mom yelled at you for spoiling my dinner and said you were a bigger little kid than me." She stared straight into the darkness of the fur, absentminded. "I remember that." Andy removed the photo from Pattie's limp hand and stared fondly at it. In some selfish way, he was glad he'd be meeting her again, his other half, his best friend from the time they were toddlers.
She was his perfect match, realized too late.
"Daddy?" Pattie asked in the timid voice a child, picking her heavy head up. It was clogged from all of her crying, and with every tear and added stress it hurt more. "You'll take care of her, won't you?" she questioned quietly. "When Mom comes to you you'll find her and make sure she's okay, and she's happy?" Another beat of silence. "Right, daddy?"
It nearly made Andy smile in the way she'd grown accustomed to calling Prue, 'Mom' but still called him 'Daddy'. To him, 'Daddy' was a compliment, a name of something he never thought he'd accomplish. It was sweet.
"Without a doubt sweetheart, without a doubt."
She hugged him again, realizing their time was running low and Andy needed to return where he belonged. He was another person she'd lost the time to know, but now Pattie was prepared to go back to her own time and use the phone number Elizabeth Truddeau had given her when she was young right after Andy's passing. It had been given to her in case Pattie ever wanted to know anything at all about the other side of her family…Andy.
"If you ever need me, just remember where to find me. It's like that song from Lonestar, I'm Already There. Just think of that, or maybe a spell will do the trick, I'm not really hip with magic," he kidded, nudging her. Pattie chuckled, kissing Andy one last time on the cheek. "And if you need the support of anything to get you back home," Andy pointed to the little girl in the picture, little Pattie, "Just count on her. All you need is—"
"Elizabeth!"
Little Pattie finished the sentence for him, obviously arriving home with Prue in tow. Pattie looked to her left, Andy was gone, the picture lying next to her on the bed. She felt a chill of wind rush over her. Andy.
"I love you, daddy," she whispered lovingly.
Pattie left the room in tact and headed back towards the stairway, finding little Pattie coming her way. Another shriek. "Elizabeth!' The shrill cry came with the pounding of tiny feet up the wooden staircase. Little Pattie held her arms out, running straight to Pattie. "You're still here!" she yell excitedly, flinging her tiny arms around Pattie's neck.
Pattie's face brightened with a gracious smile. "Of course, you think I'd leave without saying goodbye?"
"I was afraid I'd miss you," she admitted sadly, head hung low for only a brief moment before the grin reappeared. "But you're still here!"
Prue had quickly retrieved little Pattie from Emily's at Pattie's request. She wasn't exactly sure what Pattie's plan was, but if she had learned anything by now, it was that her daughter worked in mysterious ways and kept her ideas quiet until she was sure they were full-proof.
Little Pattie had grown especially fond of her elder self In the small time they'd been acquainted Pattie wondered if she was actually enlightened with the situation that was occurring; if her younger self knew Pattie's true identity. That's when she caught little Pattie staring at her and the exposed birthmark on her wrist, which she rested on her knees. Then she looked at her own knowingly.
Caught red-handed. She knew now.
Prue brought both of her daughters up the stairs where little Pattie greeted her family with excitement. It wasn't often the ghosts of the afterlife would come back to visit; she knew this was special. When the enthusiasm died down, as they were still waiting for Leo, Pattie learned toward her past self, summoning her close. "You know who I really am, don't you smarty-pants?" She watched Pattie shrink back, her cheeks swelling with color. Guilty. She whispered again, as her family looked on, waiting, "It's okay, mommy and our aunts know now. Everyone knows. You figured it out first though and kept it a secret; we're pretty smart aren't we?"
The younger had a mischievous grin from ear to ear. She lifted a hand, placing it under a lock of Pattie's think hair and letting her fingers smoothly glide down it, admirably. "I'm pretty," she giggled.
What to make of that? Pattie thought quietly. A compliment of or a sign that I'm a bit self obsessed?
She laughed at her own joke and trying to be like the older, little Pattie laughed too. Now Prue came up behind her and kneeled behind her, grasping both of her tiny hands. "What do you think?" she inquired, a glimmer of esteem sparkling in her icy blue eyes. Pattie had withstood so much. "Do you approve?"
"A," little Pattie announced for all to hear. They laughed.
"You will always be my beautiful, sweet, baby," she promised, sounding like Andy now. They really were part of a package. Maybe that comforted Pattie, the fact that they'd be together soon. At least something made sense. Little Pattie fell backwards, folding into Prue's arms. "No matter how old you get you will be my baby, even if I'm not around to tell you." The remark stung everyone else who knew, but again flew over little Pattie's head.
Leo finally orbed into the middle of the attic, he was greeted happily by little Pattie. She made every situation lighter and less dramatic, it was a nice chance. It was the same with Wyatt in her own time. After Piper welcomed him with a kiss he turned to the elder version of his niece and they shared a mutual smile.
Now they were a family together; a semblance of normalcy.
"So everyone is here now," Piper concluded. "How is this going to work?"
"It's going to take everyone and all the point we've got," Pattie declared to the confused faces around her. "Just like the Ultimate Battle. Four generations of Halliwells, one massive load of power."
Not too many reviews for the last chapter. Am I getting rusty? Please reassure me! The next chapter should be up soon. There are 3 left and the epilogue. And I know the Ultimate Battle was three generations to save the sisters but remember, I've changed some things. I'm hoping to have it up over the weekend but there's a lot going on so I'm not sure.
Keep reading!
Megan