"Why aren't you guys saying anything," Paige asked her family.
"You aren't the only one who just dropped a bombshell," Phoebe told her little sister. "Prue just told us that she's pregnant," she said getting Paige up to speed on the situation.
Paige threw her keys and purse on the foyer table and sauntered over to the dining room table, placed a hand on her hip and said, "Oh, my god. Whose is it?"
The next thing everyone knew, Paige was yelping, "Ouch! Did you just pinch me," she cried at Prue who was seated two places away from her.
"Whose is it," Prue repeated her sister's words. "Whose is it? It's Brendan's!"
"Sorry, it's just that I didn't know that you guys were doing that," Paige said wrinkling her nose. "You were the one that told me it wasn't classy on the first date."
"Yeah, well, technically they got married," Piper joked and got a laugh out of Phoebe.
"Girls," Patty admonished them. "This is not the time for joking. I, for one, would like to congratulate my eldest daughter, Prudence, for making me a grandmother," she said and then turned to Paige. "And as for you, you will get married over my dead body," she said before taking a big gulp of her wine.
"But mom—"
"Paige Marie Halliwell," Sam yelled, "sit down. We can discuss this later," he said and the table was silent while everyone went back to their meals.
Phoebe and Paige were walking down a busy street, with Phoebe's arm wrapped around one of Paige's. "Oh, we have to go in here," the twenty two year old demanded and they entered a lingerie shop. Phoebe picked up a scarlet teddy and handed it to Paige. "Henry will love this on your wedding night," she teased.
"Um, maybe our anniversary," Paige said and then picked up a pink champagne colored gown. "I was thinking something like this for the wedding night."
"Much more virginal," Phoebe said. "Not that you're a virgin," she teased and stared back at a silent Paige. "Are you?"
"Kind of," Paige said with a pinched expression that bared most of her teeth. "Actually… totally."
"Oh, my god," Phoebe laughed. "A Halliwell that waits for marriage," she said choking on her laughter.
"What can I say," Paige asked. "I like being the first at everything. I'm the first witch-whitelighter hybrid and apparently the first Halliwell who isn't a slut."
"Calm down there, virgin. I didn't mean to offend you."
"Besides, how am I gonna convince mom and dad that this is really happening? They won't even talk about the subject."
"It might help if they got to actually meet him," Phoebe advised her. "Why don't you bring him over?"
"Why? So he can divorce me before we even get married?"
"So," Piper said, "have you told Brendan yet?"
"About," Prue said blandly as she put another item in their shopping cart.
"The baby," Piper said. "You know, the one that's due in six and a half months? My goddaughter," Piper reminded her.
"Who says you're the godmother," Prue asked playfully.
"Oh, so you would give Phoebe or Paige your child if anything happened to you," the younger one asked sarcastically.
"Hmm, I guess by process of elimination you really are the only reasonable choice," Prue said, "then again, Paige is getting married," she pretended to ponder that thought.
"Hah, like mom and Sam will ever let that happen."
"Hey, why are you calling him Sam all of a sudden. We all call him dad," Prue reminded Piper.
"I know," the other woman said solemnly, "but I haven't been able to stop thinking about, you know, our other dad," Piper said trying to not belittle the bond she shared with her step-father. "I just wish we could have both of them in our lives."
"I get that," Prue told her, "but we don't and that's not our fault or mom and dad's. Victor left and decided not to have anything to do with us. There's nothing we could have done about that."
"There's nothing we could have done about it, but what about now?"
"Now, Piper? He's had twenty years; we don't owe him anything."
"It's not about owing him anything, Prue. We just want to know who it is we come from."
"We? You involved Phoebe in this, too?"
"It's not like I dragged her into it, Prue. The only one who seems to not be interested in it is you. Phoebe and I want to know him. It's not like you can stop us."
"No, but I don't have to be involved either," she said and walked down a different aisle.
"Prue," Piper called out and followed her sister.
Patty stood in the attic with candles lit in a circle used for rituals. "…come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the great divide," she finished chanting and was greeted by a familiar face.
Phoebe and Paige walked in and placed their bags near the bench seat in the foyer, hanging up their coats and jackets. "Mom, dad," Paige yelled and Sam came out from the sunroom.
"Girls, I thought you would have been gone longer. Did you get a lot of stuff," he asked and kissed each of his daughters on their cheeks.
"Not much—" Paige was cut off by the door slamming and Piper calling after Prue.
"What the hell is going on," Sam asked the older two.
"Why don't you ask Piper," Prue told him. "Better yet, ask Phoebe."
"Uh, what? All of a sudden I'm involved? I don't even know what's going on," she stammered.
Footsteps echoed as someone made their way onto the landing and everyone turned to stare. "Grams," Paige said.
"In the flesh," the older room confirmed and Patty caught up with her mother.
All four girls stood before their grandmother yelling to get their points across, while Sam and Patty stood separated from each other by the group. It was to the point where they were only getting an odd word here and there when Grams put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loud and long. "Girls. Table. Now," Grams spoke loudly and all four sat down silently waiting for their Grams to say anything. "Now, what in the world is going on? Prudence?"
"Now, Paige, what is it you want to say," Grams said finally making her way to the youngest child.
"I'm getting married—"
"Paige Marie, we have already discussed this," Sam said sternly and Grams held up a hand to hush him.
"Mom and Dad are having a little trouble accepting this."
"Who is this young man? Does he know about our family?"
"His name is Henry, and yes, I told him about magic. He's a parole officer and a really good man, Grams."
"Why can't you wait a little longer? A long engagement might give your parents time to get to know him, and you'll still get what you want," Grams said.
"They don't want me to wait," Paige said. "They just don't want their youngest to be the first to get married."
"Now hold on a second, young lady," Patty began to argue with Paige when Grams cleared her throat and gave her daughter the signature Penny Halliwell glare.
"I don't want to wait. They don't know him but I do. They can either try to be supportive or I can go my separate way. The elders have already told us that our combined destiny has been reached," Paige said and Patty and Sam shared the same look they always shared when one of their daughters was 'out stubborning' them. They knew Paige was laying down the law.
Patty, Penny and Sam were in the kitchen cleaning after dinner while the girls each went their separate ways. They were still pretty raw from the commotion earlier and weren't on the best of terms as a united whole.
"I still don't know what's gotten into you, mother. Paige is only twenty years old and you sat there telling her it was okay to be married?"
"Well, I have to say Piper and Phoebe seem to be the bigger issue, dear. I mean, really; they want to track Victor down? He'll just end up disappointing them all over again."
"Victor should never have been gone from their lives, mother. As much as they love Sam, Victor is their biological father. It's natural to want to know him."
"And he should want to know them but he's been absent for twenty years without a single care as to how they're doing, so why should they care?"
"It's not like we were completely innocent in that situation," Sam told his mother-in law. "Patty and I should have waited to get involved until after the divorce was final."
"Pssh. The ink may not have been dried but for all other purposes the relationship between Patty and Victor was over by then. Neither of you are to blame."
"That's probably not how Victor feels," Patty said sadly. "That's not the pressing point, though. I really don't want Paige rushing into a marriage. She's too young."
"Please," Penny said waving her daughter off. "I was married when I was her age. Besides, Paige reminds me a great deal of how I was at that age and she's a good judge of character. If she says this Henry is a good man than I believe her."
"That doesn't mean she should marry him," Patty rebutted.
"Funny, I seem to recall telling you the same thing about Victor."
"And look how that turned out," Patty replied.
"He wasn't exactly a mistake, Patty. He is the father of three of the charmed ones," her husband reminded her.
"Paige is going to do whatever she wants. Do you want to alienate her or do you want to be there when she gets married; has her first child, etc. etc.?"
Patty and Sam exchanged glances.
"I guess I can understand Piper and Phoebe wanting to know Victor," Paige said quietly to Prue, the two lying down on Prue's bed. "I just never really thought about it because it was like my dad was always your dad, too. Don't be mad at them."
"I'm not really mad," Prue said. "I'm nervous."
"About Victor?"
"About Brendan," Prue told her. "He's been up there with the elders training to be a whitelighter and I haven't seen him in almost a month."
"Are you worried that they're gonna keep him away? He's still mortal, though, and they said he was getting powers so he can be with you," Paige reminded her.
"I know, but think about what this means. I got pregnant before they stripped his warlock powers. This baby could grow up to be evil."
"Like you would allow that. Besides, Brendan was a warlock and he managed to fight it and be good."
"Yeah, but I already know that this baby has undesirable genes from Brendan and now Phoebe and Piper want to search out Victor and it's just a reminder that somewhere out there in the world is a man who abandoned his daughters. I don't think I want to get to know about the kinds of things that Victor has unknowingly passed on to my child."
"Is that what you're afraid about," Phoebe said from the doorway. She walked in slowly and sat on the edge of the bed. "Prue, you can't be afraid of those kinds of things or it will just keep you from living your life."
"How'd you get to be so wise, anyway," Prue half joked; half cried, giving her sister a nudge.
"Well, I've had Coop to help me. He's one of the reason's I want to get to know our dad. I've held myself an arm's length from love because it was always there in the back of my mind that I wasn't good enough to keep dad from leaving. I know that we didn't do anything to deserve that now, but I want him to know what he missed out on. Don't you?"