"A Day in the Life of Paige Matthews" [PG] - 1/1

Here is a story about one day in the life of Paige Matthews, set during my Alternate Universe version of Season Five:


"A DAY IN THE LIFE OF PAIGE MATTHEWS"

RATING: [PG]
SUMMARY: Paige's POV on her job, a new family member, romantic complications, and new dangers - all in one day. Over two months following "Second Power".
FEEDBACK: deerush76@yahoo.com - Be my guest. But please, be kind.
DISCLAIMER: The Charmed Ones, Darryl Morris, Cole Turner and other characters related to Charmed to Spelling Productions, Brad Kern and Constance Burge. The McNeills and Barbara Bowen are my own creation.

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6:45 A.M. - Oh God! What time is it? Jeez! It's not even seven in the morning and that damn kid is already crying! Sigh! I know! I know. He's not a damn kid. He's my nephew. My beloved, nearly two month-old nephew, Wyatt. Still, does the little runt have to wake us up every three to four hours? I haven't had a decent night's sleep, since he was born.

7:32 A.M. - Ah! Breakfast at the Halliwell manor. I see that Piper has already prepared one of her UBER meals. Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, fruit . . . and OATMEAL? Well, at least Leo is trying to devour half of it. I wonder if he realizes that whitelighters do gain weight. Phoebe has finally arrived. Oh Lord! My fashion sense may be questionable, but I would never wear low-slung jeans and a blouse that reveals both cleavage and stomach to the office. Phoebe, Phoebe! What are you doing? Well, it's obvious. She wants to attract the new boss - yummy Jason Dean, who is the new owner of the SAN FRANCISCO BAY-MIRROR and millionaire extraordinaire. Hmmm, I see that she's only eating toast and coffee. Well, I'm a little hungry, right now. I guess I'll settle for eggs, toast and juice. Unlike Phoebe, I have no desire to attract the attention of my boss. I mean, Barbara may be good-looking, but I'm just not into lesbianism.

Sigh! Now if only Piper wouldn't . . . oh, oh! She's left the kitchen. I know what that means. She'll be bringing Wyatt back with her . . . to feed him. Ugh! I suppose having a child is supposed to be beautiful, but does she really have to breast feed him, in front of the rest of us? While we're eating?

9:05 A.M. - Made it to work, just in time. Five minutes early, to be exact. A world's record for me. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that I've went from being a social service clerk, to counselor, to unemployed witch, and finally to shop's assistant. How the mighty has fallen! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. I like working at Ostera, which is the word for the Spring Equinox. It's great! Fun! And working for Barbara is also fun. She's a lot of laughs.

On the surface, she looks like one of those blond, blue-eyed cheerleader types. You know what I mean, Miss All American - California style. Only Barbara has brains. And boy, does she know her potions and herbs. Even better, she has a wicked, wicked sense of humor. She reminds me of Olivia, to be honest. But without the latter's ruthless streak. Oooh! First customer! Mr. DiSilvo. He usually comes around every Friday morning, five minutes after the shop opens. Time to go to work.

10:39 A.M. - A friend of Barbara has paid a visit to the shop. He seemed like a nice person, for a geeky-looking fellow. Neither Madeline - Madeline Oser, the newest (and junior) shop assistant - or I really got to meet him. Barbara and her friend headed straight for the back, while we dealt with more customers. I did see him give Barbara some kind of plant, before they went into the back.

11:03 A.M. - Maddy and I finally met Barbara's friend. It turns out that he's a fellow witch she had first met in college. His name is Osborne. Osborne Pierce. Huh. Interesting name. Well, his appearance certainly lived up to the name. Medium height, rather thin, pale skin and unmemorable features. But, he did have a pair of very nice brown eyes.

11:58 A.M. - Lunch time! Nate came by to pick me up! He is sooo cool! And gorgeous! In a scruffy kind of way. He promised to take me to Caffe Freddy's on Columbus, one of my favorite restaurants. Yay! Oh look, he here! Gotta go!

1:03 P.M. - Lunch with Nate at Caffe Freddy's turned out to be great. The pizza was good, but Nate's company was even better. I haven't told the others about him. I guess I want to keep him as my secret . . . at least for now. Barbara has already left for lunch and now, I'm in charge of the store. Piper dropped by for a few purchases - rosemary and ajowan. She even brought along little Wyatt. I think Maddy is in love with him. I wonder why Piper didn't go to the grocery store. She could have paid less for the rosemary and ajowan, there. Well, at least for the rosemary. I guess she simply wanted to help her little sister maintain a job.

1:21 P.M. - A new customer had arrived, just as Piper and Wyatt were leaving. Weird-looking woman. With that dark hair and eyes, and pale skin, she looked like a cross between Morticia Addams and Drusilla the vampire from BUFFY. The moment I had laid eyes upon her, the old alarm clock inside me, went off. Demon? Warlock? Who knows? Piper took one look at her and decided to hang around, a little longer.

1:23 P.M. - Apparently, our new customer (a.k.a. Morticia) wasn't looking for herbs to buy. She wanted to know if the shop sold plants. I told her that we only sold herbs and spices, not plants. I recommended a plant nursery, nearby. She stared at all of us for a moment, with those dark and creepy eyes, smiled and left. Thank goodness Piper had decided to remain behind for a few minutes longer.

2:09 P.M. - Barbara finally returned from lunch. With Bruce McNeill, her fiancé, in tow. Oh-oh. I know what that meant. A little hanky-panky in the back room. Okay, I shouldn't begrudge a woman for wanting a little nookie time with her fiancé - especially since he is the sous chef of one of the city's hottest restaurants. But jeez! Does Bruce always have to come by, every other day?

2:17 P.M. - Another regular customer stopped by. Nick Marcano. He's a witch, but like Barbara, he doesn't have a practical power. And unlike the rest of us, he doesn't practice Wicca. He practices Stregheria, a pagan religion from Italy. Nick also happens to be the aunt of Carla Bianchi, an old friend of Bruce's mom. Nick is such a sweetie, and very nice. Although he tends to be a little obsessive about his interests. It's odd. He's known Bruce, Olivia and the youngest McNeill sibling, Harry, since they were all kids. Yet, he ended up becoming close to Barbara, of all people. I guess it's due to the fact that both have no special power and both love plants.

2:26 P.M. - Barbara and Bruce finally returned from the store's stockroom. Maddy, Nick and I took one look at their messy hair and clothes and guessed what they had been up to. Maddy smirked as usual. Okay, so did I. As for Nick . . . Huh, that's strange. Nick seemed . . . I don't know, upset? I knew that he and Barbara were close friends, but why would he be upset over her and Bruce fooling around in the stockroom? Weird! Never known for him to react like that, before. Then again, I may have been imagining things.

3:01 P.M. - One minute, I'm helping a customer and the next, all hell breaks loose. Hell came in the form of an alarm going off, and it seemed to be coming from the bank, across the street. Oh God! I think the bank is being robbed!

3:11 P.M. - There's nothing like gunshots to make a woman feel extremely vulnerable. Get this. Here I am, one of the three most powerful witches . . . okay, four. I forgot about Olivia and her fire staff. To get back to what I was saying - here I am, one of the most powerful witches of all time, and I'm down on the floor, trying to avoid flying bullets, while staring at a dead body. Powerful witch or not, I'm not invincible. Damn!

The moment we heard gunshots, some uniformed cop rushed inside the store and screamed at us to get down. Seconds after we hit the floor, a bullet shot through the window, killing the cop. Oh God! More gunfire was exchanged. Some guy in a business suit and black-knitted hood, burst into the shop, pointed a shotgun at us, screaming hostages. One of our customers wanted to crawl toward the stockroom, but none of us dared, not with that gun trained on us.

Finally, we heard Darryl's voice, screaming at the bank robber to put down the gun and free us. It wasn't long before both were in the middle of a screaming match. It was almost like a scene out of NYPD BLUE or that movie, HEAT. The robber aimed his shotgun at Barbara. I closed my eyes and heard a gunshot. I opened them and the next thing I saw was the robber on the floor. Dead. I wish I could mourn him, but I was too busy feeling relieved. Oh God! I think I have to pee.

3:27 P.M. - The bodies are gone, thank God! Both Darryl and Olivia took statements from all of us. Would you believe it? They were in the area, when they heard the call about a bank robbery in progress. After all of the statements were taken, the police excused everyone. Looking back on it, I can't help but wish I had used my teleorbing power to take that gun from the robber. But that would have meant exposing myself as a witch to the customers. And speaking of the customers, they got out of there like bats out of hell, after being excused. Barbara, Maddy and I remained behind to clean up. I only hope this day doesn't get any weirder.

3:51 P.M. - The police are still outside, dealing with the aftermath of the bank robbery, and the two deaths that happened inside the store. Darryl popped in real fast to check on us and then, disappeared. Barbara decided to close the shop early, after all of the excitement. We've already turned away three customers. However, two more customers decided to pay us a visit. One of them was our old friend, Morticia Addams, Part Deux. And with her was some hairy creature who could have easily passed as Cousin It.

Before we could even blink, Morticia zapped poor Madeline unconscious with a bolt of electricity. At least I hope she's unconscious. Her boon companion, Cousin It, lifted me off my feet . . . by grabbing my throat. Hell, I could barely breath. Morticia demanded that Barbara hand over something called the Soma plant. Apparently, this was the plant that Osborne Pierce had given Barbara. Who merely stared at Morticia with confused eyes. Oh, oh! This doesn't look good. Sure enough, Cousin It squeezed my throat a little harder. I finally had the good sense to orb out of his grip. While I tried to breathe again, Cousin It made another attempt to grab me. And once again, I orbed out of his way.

Meanwhile, Morticia continued to zap at Barbara with little energy bolts, while demanding the Soma plant. Barbara deflected her attacks. How, I have no idea. Cousin It started toward me and I knocked him off balance with a roundhouse kick. Thank God for Phoebe and Livy! Speaking of Olivia, she finally returned to the store, just as Cousin It produced a knife in his hand. I tele-orbed it into my hand and threw it at him. Unfortunately, he caught it and threw it back at me. Using her telekinesis, Olivia intervened and sent the knife into Cousin It's forehead, turning him into a pile of ashes.

We returned our attention to Barbara, who seemed in danger of being electrocuted to death. Somehow, she managed to produce some kind of wand and sent Morticia flying across the store. A large energy ball formed in the demon's (or whatever) hands to deliver the deathblow. Before she could, Morticia disintegrated into a ball of fire, thanks to Olivia. Boy! I see that Livy has finally learned to control that firepower of hers.

4:12 P.M. - Both Olivia and Darryl hung around a bit to see if we were okay. I guess we're all still a bit shaken by today's attacks. Bank robbery, nearly held hostage and a visit by demons or whatever who were bent upon getting their hands on some plant. Speaking of the plant, Barbara had no idea of what a Soma plant was. Apparently, her old buddy, Osborne, had failed to tell her. I could tell that she would dearly love to get her hands around his throat and choke the living daylights out of him. She was that pissed.

Madeline had, fortunately, survived Morticia's attack. I managed to heal her, before Barbara allowed her to leave for the day. Barbara also decided to close the shop about an hour early. I volunteered to clean up, before closing the shop. I'm glad the shop is closing, because I don't think I can take any more surprises. And my throat is feeling a bit sore.

4:27 P.M. - Barbara and Maddy have already left and I've finally finished cleaning the shop. I bet everyone at home will be surprised to see me. Huh. What's this? Looks like a small shopping bag. What's it doing on one of the shelves? I wonder who left it. Well, I'm certainly not going to leave it behind. Might as well take it home, with me.

5:09 P.M. - Everything seemed to be in a state of chaos when I got home. Wyatt was crying (no surprise there). Piper and Leo seemed to be searching for something. One of Wyatt's toys? A bottle perhaps? And I found Phoebe upstairs, nervously getting ready for a date with her boss. Hmmm, I guess that diet was working, after all.

5:26 P.M. - I finally opened the bag I had found at Ostera's. Inside was a red velvet box that held a dragon-shaped gold pin. Oooo! There was even a small ruby that served as the dragon's eye. In other words, it was probably worth a couple of thousand dollars. I wonder who left it? Mrs. McMasters with her silly terrier? Olivia? Or the Morticia/Drusilla look-alike? They were the only three I knew who could afford such a pin.

5:28 P.M. - Just as I was about to put the pin back into the velvet box, Phoebe popped into my room. She took one look at the pin and wanted to know how I got it. So I told her. Then . . . would you believe this? She asked if she could wear it tonight, for her date. You know, there are times when I don't understand Phoebe. Sometimes, I think she must be one of the most morally mixed-up women I have ever met. She had pushed Cole away . . . on moral grounds - something I still regret for encouraging her to do. She tends to act like Miss Goody Two-Shoes around her new boss (I've seen her in action, by the way). And yet, she sometimes dresses like a soft-porn actress. And then she does something like this - asks me to lend her the pin. Something she knows that I don't own. I wonder if Jason is aware of the kind of woman he's involved with. Phoebe is my sister and I love her, but sometimes . . . I have to be honest. Sometimes, she can be pretty flaky. Cole must have loved Phoebe very much to put up with her for so long. As for the pin, I told Phoebe that she couldn't wear it. For the obvious reason, of course - it didn't belong to me.

6:58 P.M. - With the mysterious pin, Phoebe getting ready for her date, the crisis over Wyatt, and dinner, I forgot about the two demons (or warlocks) at Ostera's, today. When I finally told the others, they freaked out. I asked Leo if he knew anything about a plant called Soma. Apparently, he didn't. Piper got very upset over the fact that Morticia had returned to the shop and caused more trouble. I guess she's feeling guilty that she had not stayed any longer. And I didn't help by reminding her that Olivia ended up saving our lives.

7:15 P.M. - Jason Dean arrived to pick up Phoebe. I must say that he looked delicious. Tall, dirty blond hair and somewhat slender. Very handsome, by the way. There's something about his eyes that almost reminded me of Cole's, but they were not as intense. I still found it hard to believe that he and Phoebe began dating because of some computer chat forum.

Phoebe made her entrance on the staircase. She looked great in her long red satin gown with spaghetti straps. Instead of jewelry, she wore a crushed dark red velvet choker. But there was one problem - the slit at the side of the dress. It just didn't work. I know she's my sister, but like I've said before, Phoebe usually has no fashion sense, whatsoever. Sometimes, her outfits seemed to clash in colors or in styles. Hell, she's worse than me and my tastes tend to slip every now and then. But I must admit that she looked great, tonight. But that damn slit had to go. Sorry, but Pheebs simply lacked the height to carry a slit. Jason didn't seem to mind. His expression clearly stated that he approved. And Piper and Leo obviously approved of Jason. I guess a mortal, who happened to be a millionaire seems a whole lot better than a powerful half-demon, who also happened to be a lawyer.

7:26 P.M. - While Leo was showing off Wyatt to Jason, the doorbell rang again. Surprise, surprise! It was Olivia and Cole! Oh boy! I never saw so many intense reactions in my life. I almost felt as if I was in the middle of some daytime soap opera. Leo became tense; Piper, hostile. I couldn't tell whether Phoebe was nervous, angry or jealous. Maybe all three. Cole seemed wary, but cool. And I was simply staring at everyone else, like an idiot. But the biggest surprise turned out to be Olivia and Jason. They simply stared at each other with shocked expressions on their faces. Then Olivia called out Jason's name - as if she had not seen him in a long time. Whoa! Olivia and Jason knew each other? Jason began to have the shakes. And Phoebe and Cole stared at their significant others, surprised by this little development.

7:31 P.M. - Apparently, the dragon-shaped pin I had found, belonged to Olivia. She had just bought it, this afternoon and wanted to wear it at this charity dinner that she and Cole planned to attend, tonight. Phoebe and Jason were also going to the same charity dinner. And damn, did they look fabulous! Olivia and Cole, I mean. Olivia wore this aquamarine gown with a halter-top that displayed a tasteful amount of cleavage. And like Phoebe's gown, it had a slit. Only Livy had the height to do justice to it. I hate to say it, but she made the rest of us women look like girls. As for Cole - dare I say more? Six feet-two, broad shoulders, dark hair, vivid blue eyes and a handsome mug. In that tuxedo, he made Leo and Jason look like background chorus boys. Looking at him, I could not help but wonder how Phoebe could let him get away. Until I remembered, rather guiltily, that Piper and I were partly responsible for encouraging her to dump him.

7:33 P.M. - While Olivia and I were upstairs, getting her pin, she spilled the beans about her and Jason. They had dated some three years ago. Just before she had met Richard. Whoa! Phoebe is dating Olivia's ex-boyfriend? And Olivia is dating - well, is just friends with - Phoebe's ex-husband? This is too much! Boy, I can't wait to tell Piper and Leo!

7:38 P.M. - Olivia and returned downstairs. Phoebe and Jason had already left. Damn! I wanted to see more fireworks. After Olivia and Cole left, I told Leo and Piper everything. Piper made some nasty little comment about how Olivia's taste in men had deteriorated. Sigh! Some people never change - including older sisters.

9:22 P.M. - Barbara called. She had just received a call from Darryl. Apparently, the police has discovered Osborne Pierce's body in an alley, off Montgomery Street. Electrocuted. By Morticia, no doubt. The police believe that someone had deliberately killed and tortured Osborne with a taser. Thank God that Morticia and Cousin It are gone. Barbara also added that she believes that Morticia was a warlock named Bebe Harris. Bebe? The name doesn't fit. Cousin It, on the other hand, was definitely a demon - a Kaliff demon, whose name she doesn't know. Along with Bruce, Barbara had returned to the shop to fetch the Soma plant. She also decided to stay with the McNeills for a while. As for Ostera, it will open tomorrow. Too bad. I could have used a Saturday off.

11:43 P.M. - Phoebe's back. I can hear her and Jason, downstairs. I guess he didn't bother to hang around, very long. I just heard the front door shut. It wasn't long before Phoebe appeared in my room. I know what she wants. Information on Olivia and Jason. Apparently, the boss had failed to tell her about his relationship with Olivia. So I told Phoebe. Needless to say, she didn't take the news very well. I asked her if she had enjoyed the charity dinner. The look on her face said it all. I guess it must have been difficult spending the evening in the same room with Olivia and Cole. I wonder how they felt. I really need to call Livy, tomorrow. Phoebe said good-night and left. Probably went to cry on Piper's shoulder . . . if Leo's not there.

2:38 A.M. - Goddammit! It's almost three in the morning and that goddamn kid decides to wake up the entire household! All because he's hungry! Deep breath, Paige. Calm down. God! Leo and Piper are going to have to do something about that kid. Drug him before he goes to bed, if they have to. Or maybe Leo can soundproof Wyatt's room and spare us the early morning scream fests. I mean, geez! I've already endured a horrible day and I have to get up in a little over four hours. Is it too much to ask for a decent night's sleep?


THE END