To Be Charmed

Chapter Twelve

Fathers and Daughters

AN: Thank you, guys, for the wonderful reviews! Sorry I left you hanging for a minute with a short preview! Hopefully you forgive me after I posted the extremely long Chapter Eleven!

In this chapter, Paige and Sam will spend some time together, as will Piper, Prue, and Phoebe with Victor. A surprise guest comes to the Manor as well!

Disclaimer: Charmed doesn't belong to me, original characters do.

Minutes after the vanquish, Prue decided it was time to wake Sam and Grams. She knelt over Grams and gently patted her face as Paige awkwardly stood over Sam, unsure of what to do. "Grams, wake up," Prue said gently. Grams' eyes fluttered opened and Prue helped her grandmother to her feet. Seeing Sam, Penny turned to her granddaughters for answers. "Well?" Phoebe spoke up from where she was seated. "A demon attacked us. We killed it." Grams smiled. "Of course you did! You are witches, after all! Sam, dear, wake up." Penny knelt by Sam and tugged on his arm, instantly waking him. "Wha- what happened?" Sam asked groggily. "A demon," Penny simply said. "Oh," Sam said. He got to his feet and looked from Penny to Paige. "What do we do now?" Phoebe asked. At that exact moment, the doorbell rang throughout the house. Penny went to answer it.

"Well, if it isn't you. What are you doing here, Victor?" Phoebe's ears perked up at the name 'Victor'. "Dad!" Phoebe turned the corner and into a hug. Penny stood with her hands on her hips. "Well?" Victor cleared his throat. "I've come to spend the day with Phoebe, take her out." "And your other daughters?" Piper came from around the corner. "Them too." Victor nodded. Prue stayed behind, she didn't trust Victor after he had left her mom. Phoebe stuck her head back in the living room. "Prue? Ya coming?" Prue rolled her eyes. Better appease them both. She thought as she ducked under her father's arm to get out of the door.

Penny stared after her three granddaughters as they entered their father's car. She wished them a pleasant outing in her head and turned to her youngest granddaughter, who was keeping a good distance away from her father.

"Sam, I-"

"It's okay, Penny. Mind if I take Paige? I was hoping we could talk." Paige gave Sam a side glance.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, sorry." Sam sighed as Penny leaned against a wall.

"Paige, he is your father. I know this is hard for you, but please, go with him. He wants to talk." Paige looked hard between Penny and Sam, softening her gaze when Penny nodded in Sam's direction. She took Sam's outstretched hand and allowed herself to be led out the front door.

"Dad, where have you been?" Phoebe asked, spooning up some ice cream. "Around," Victor answered. Prue's eyes narrowed. She had finished her ice cream cone a while back and had kept her arms crossed. "Around where?" Victor shrugged. "Los Angeles, San Diego, Larkspur, you name it." Piper put down her spoon and wiped her mouth. "What made you come here?" she asked. Her father's right eyebrow raised itself at the question. "Am I not allowed to visit my three daughters? I didn't know." Phoebe laughed as Piper chuckled softly. Prue did nothing. She hadn't wanted to go on this father/daughter outing simply because she resented her father. She resented him for leaving her mother, her sisters, and her. He had left twice, coming back after the first time, but the second? He left for good. Her mother had died not long after.

He had tried getting custody, but Grams wouldn't allow it. They had tried co-parenting, but the two had opposing personalities. He sent birthday and Christmas cards, nothing else, not even a phone call! Caught up in her thoughts, Prue didn't notice the silverware spinning in the air and Piper quickly freezing the café until Phoebe elbowed her. "Prue! Stop it!" Prue looked up from her lap and stared at the silverware in the air. "Wha- what happened?"

"You were getting so upset that the silverware just started spinning in the air! Piper had to freeze it and the entire restaurant!" Phoebe said excitedly. Prue looked to Piper, who was gasping for breath.

"What's wrong?" Piper glared at her.

"One- do you have any idea how hard it is for me to do this? Two- I don't know how long everything and everyone is supposed to stay frozen, so you, and yes, I do mean you, need to hurry and get those back on the table!" Stunned by the middle sister's outburst, Prue reached out and set the silverware back on the table. Phoebe gasped and pointed to their father as Prue sat back down.

"Look! Oh, my God!" Prue and Piper turned their heads to see their father frozen in time. "Oh, my God," Prue reiterated. "Why he is frozen?" Piper asked, nonplussed. Phoebe rolled her eyes, could her older sister be any more dense? "He's not a witch. I think your power only works on mortals and demons, not witches." "So, he doesn't know?" "Know what?" "That we're witches, Phoebe!" "Unless Mom told him before she died, I don't think he knows." "Good, that's good."

Paige tried to find the resemblance between her father and herself. If it wasn't physical, perhaps it was mental or in mannerisms. Sam had graying, dark, curly hair. His eyes were a pale grey-blue color. Paige had straight black hair and brown eyes. Maybe she took after her mom? Growing up, she was used to people commenting about how she looked nothing like her parents. She turned her thoughts in a new direction; mainly, why didn't he tell her the truth before this all happened? Why now? I guess I'll find out soon.

Sam kept driving down the street, intending to stop at a small restaurant so he and Paige could talk. He knew she had questions and he would try his hardest to answer them all. One of those questions were bound to be 'Why didn't you keep me?' or 'Why didn't you tell me?' He had thought long and hard about how to tell her. When it came to things like this, Sam was a bit scatter-brained! He kept his eyes on the road, determined not to get a real good look at his only daughter. When they were at the Manor, he took in the soft and sleek black hair that reached slightly past her shoulders and her warm brown eyes. Janice, Paige's great aunt on her grandfather's side had those same eyes. Sam suspected the black hair was from his mother, Ruth. Sam let his mind wander as he parked the car. The restaurant he had chosen was the kid- friendly Reeve's Food House. As he turned the engine off, he looked at Paige. She was staring at the brick building with wide eyes.

"Come on. We're eating here." Sam unlocked the doors and stepped out. He opened the door to the restaurant and let Paige sweep past him. The interior was comfy contemporary, with the walls a nice shade of pale slate blue and the seating a tasteful beige color. The hostess, a brunette with blonde streaks throughout her hair, grabbed two menus and asked their preference. "Table, please," Sam said. They were taken to a secluded table with two chairs. "Chase will be right with you." The hostess left. Paige quickly grabbed her menu and held it open in front of her face. Sam laid his menu open flat on the table and scoped it. He looked for about three minutes before he looked up.

"What are you getting?" he asked Paige, who was still hiding behind her menu. "Um, probably just a sandwich," Paige mumbled. She put down her menu as the waiter walked up to the table. "Hi. Name's Chase and I'll be your waiter for today. Can I start you off with drinks?"

Not even ten minutes after Paige and Sam had left, there was a knock at the door. Penny wiped down her dress and went to answer. "Yes?" At the door was a man about the same age as Penny. He held in his hands a bouquet of roses. "Flowers for Ms. Penny Halliwell," he said, slowly extending his arms out. Penny smiled and said, "Why, thank you!" She reached for the bouquet. Just as her fingertips touched it, it fell to the floor in a small heap. Penny looked down at the bouquet and rolled her eyes. The gentleman had been coming for years, handing her a bouquet and then dropping it, the clumsy lout! If she wasn't impartial to her telekinesis, she would've wished for Piper's freezing power!

"I'm so sorry," the man apologized, not sounding sorry at all, instead, he sounded slightly disappointed. Penny looked right into his eyes. "No, it's fine. I'll pick it up," she replied. Without even waiting for the man to leave, she turned her back and went to fetch the broom and dustpan. When she returned, the man looked younger and now had a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "Tell me where the Charmed Ones are, witch!"

They had left the restaurant an hour after they had arrived. Prue was in the back seat with Piper and Phoebe was in the passenger seat. Prue didn't want to sit so close to Victor. Prue had calmed down a little after the restaurant had unfroze. Victor had tried getting her to talk, but she faked a headache. Piper and Phoebe were all too happy to speak to him. Somehow, they had gotten to the subject of the youngest Halliwell sister Paige. Victor's expression hardened once he learned of the existence of the product of his ex wife and her supernatural lover. He knew Patty had taken to another man during their marriage, he was the reason for the divorce! He did not know how far and serious the affair had gone. As he listened to his younger daughters about their half sister, he felt sorry for the girl. They had told him that Patty and her lover gave her up and that her adopted parents were killed in a deadly car crash, which is why she was sent to live with their Grams. Of course, they left out key details, such as the reason why she was given up. Victor knew why. The girls didn't tell the full story, because they thought he didn't know about them being witches. He knew they were witches, along with Penny and Patty. Patty didn't tell about her heritage until Prue was born.

October 28, 1970 was a day that Victor Bennett held in high regard. The birth of his first-born. When Patty had told him that it was time, he panicked. Patty had calmed him down. They were at the hospital in thirty minutes. The birth had only taken six hours. He cut the cord and held his tiny daughter. She was so beautiful to him. He remembered nothing else of that day, except when Patty suddenly whipped her hands out. The next thing he knew, Prudence was being held by his mother-in-law. Victor didn't completely forgive Patty for not telling him from the start. After two more children that were witches as well, he started losing it. And that was when Patty found comfort in another man's arms.

By the end of their meal, Paige was smiling from ear to ear. Her father and herself couldn't be more alike! They both enjoyed helping people, which is what made Sam a Whitelighter in the first place. Paige confided in him that she wanted to be a social worker, but she had reservations about it. " I don't think I can get into a really good school with my grades and record," she said. Sam smiled reassuringly. "You'll get in, I promise." They made more small talk while exiting the restaurant and driving back to the Manor. They pulled up behind Prue's car and laughed walking inside. The laughing stopped when they bumped into the backs of Piper and Phoebe, who were behind Victor and Prue, who was in front of the triangle with her arms stretched out beside her. Grams was knocked out cold on the floor with a man standing over her.

"At last," he snarled, "the mighty Charmed Ones!"

AN: I am super-duper sorry about the lateness of this chapter! I had planned to get it out by my birthday (November 17), but that just didn't happen! I have taken to rewatching the entire series of Charmed, just so the characters won't stray too far from their personalities and such.