Who: Paige Matthews and Shawn Hunter What: Match up When: Monday afternoon Where: By the river Status: Complete; Match up
Relieved that things seemed to be back to whatever passed for normal in Madison Valley, Shawn decided to take advantage of the nice weather to get some sunset photos. He was still struggling with the loss of Liz and Maya though he knew that neither of them would want him to wallow in self pity. It was just hard to figure out how to move forward, so he was focusing the majority of his attention on work when he wasn’t doing whatever he could to support Riley.
He was down by the river, trying to capture the colors of the sunset reflecting off the water, when he was distracted by a bright white light. It wasn’t a camera flash and it made him lose his shot, looking around for the source with confusion.
“Uh… what was that?” he asked, realizing there was a woman standing nearby that he hadn’t seen moments ago.
*** Paige was still learning the layout of Madison Valley. While she was better at orbing around the small town, there were times she ended up in the wrong place. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, today happened to be one of those days where she did not make it to her destination. Instead, she ended up at the river, landing with a bright flash of white light. Thankfully, she didn’t end up in the water. That would have been really embarrassing for Paige, especially since she still had to try and make it to work.
She noticed his camera immediately. She’d no doubt wrecked his shot and scared him. Great job Paige, she mentally chided herself. “Uh, that? That was, um, that was...orbing,” Paige replied, realizing instantly how stupid her explanation sounded in the wake of what just happened. There was no guarantee he even knew what that was. “Like teleporting.”
***
Even after all the time he’d spent in Madison Valley, Shawn wasn’t used to hearing people make such casual references to things that only existed in fiction back in his world. At least as far as he knew. Still, it didn’t frighten him or anything and he was fairly certain that he actually recognized this woman now.
“You’re one of Prue’s sisters, right?” he asked. “I work with her at the paper.”
And he knew she was a witch, so it stood to reason she was as well.
*** Well, at least he didn’t appear to be frightened by her, but more startled and surprised at her sudden arrival than anything else. That was a good thing. She’d seen people react far worse to experience the power of a witch firsthand before. Still, she found herself nervous as she waited for him to say something, anything, in response to her lame explanation as to what he had just witnessed. His answer surprised her, but it also brought a wave of relief crashing down upon her. He knew Prue! That meant he knew about witchcraft probably because none of the sisters had actually been doing anything to hide their craft since their arrival. There wasn’t an actual need to like back home.
“Yes, I am,” Paige confirmed with a smile and a nod. “Actually half-sister, but still “sister” and yeah.” Back to being awkward even when magic wasn’t involved. Oh Paige. She mentally slapped herself. He was cute though and despite the random circumstance, she could not help, but notice that.
***
Shawn chuckled. “I have a half brother who I always refer to as my brother,” he said. He missed Jack and couldn’t help but wonder what he’d think of this place. They didn’t spend as much time together thanks to Shawn’s travels and he honestly couldn’t even remember the last time they hung out before he ended up here.
“I’m Shawn. Hunter,” he said, shifting his camera to his left hand so he could offer to shake hers with his right. “Sorry, I know Prue’s mentioned her sisters, but there are a few of you and I don’t remember all the names.”
They were all ‘P’ names, from what he remembered.
*** At the words, Paige smiled. The statement made her relax a little despite the awkwardness of the situation. What were the odds she would run into someone who had a half-sibling too. It was amusing to say the least. It also made her feel less alone in that regard. While she was sure there were others here with the same situation, he was the first person she’d come across to actually admit it.
“It’s okay. There are four of us. I’m Paige Matthews. Technically, I could tack on the ‘Halliwell’ too since I am one, but I always just go with Matthews,” she replied, noting again with embarrassment that she was completely rambling. “It’s nice to meet you Shawn.”
***
“Likewise,” Shawn said with an easy smile. He hadn’t reached a point yet where he was noticing if other women were attractive or not even though he was making progress on accepting that Liz was gone and not coming back. Paige seemed nice though and he appreciated that.
He glanced around them. “Uh, were you coming out here for a reason?” he asked. “I can get out of your way, if you need me to.” Witches did stuff in nature, right? Maybe he’d inadvertently stumbled on some kind of magic land or something.
*** Paige blushed. He thought that she had meant to teleport here. Well, it made sense since she showed up here, but she hadn’t been trying to end up in his shot or here. It was a mistake on her part. Another mess up with her abilities that she was trying her hardest to fix and become better at control with.
“Uh, no. No need. I...didn’t mean to actually show up here…” Paige trailed off, face red and she looked down. “A mistake with my abilities. I’m still getting use to orbing around this place.”
***
Oops. Shawn definitely had not intended to embarrass her and he felt guilty when he realized she was blushing. “Oh, no worries, I imagine that would be difficult,” he said. He’d never had any sort of powers and figured that was probably not such a bad thing.
“How does that even work?” he asked, his curiosity piqued. “Do you have to be able to picture the place you’re aiming for? Or can you try to find a person? Or something else?”
*** “It can be.” Paige was more upset with herself for messing up yet again with one of her powers. She knew the others messed up too, but it always felt like she just...held the record. Maybe it was because she was the newest charmed.
“Actually, yeah. You have to have an idea, a picture, to know where you’re going. Sometimes, you can latch onto a person too. Mostly, it’s people. Like if you have a connection with them,” Paige explained. “It’s part of being a whitelightener.”
***
Shawn cocked his head to one side. “What’s a whitelighter?” He didn’t remember Prue ever mentioning that word and he got the impression it was a little different from just a regular witch. It was interesting to learn about all these magical things though.
“Uh, if you don’t mind sharing, that is,” he added quickly, realizing that it might be rude to ask a lot of questions.
*** Paige didn’t mind. Madison Valley was different. She could be more open about herself and her powers. “It’s kind of like an angel. We have charges, witches, we look after. I will too eventually. Or I would have in my world. I don’t know what is going to happen here exactly.”
Leo was not here to guide her. She wasn’t sure if anyone would be able to help her when it came to being a whitelighter.
***
“Cool,” Shawn said. “I guess unless you end up with a total screw up.” Like he’d been as a teenager. He felt bad for any guardian angel that might have been assigned to him back then. He was at least a little better now. Usually.
None of them knew what was going to happen here. And, well, time and again the dome had proven that anything could happen.
*** Paige didn’t believe for a moment that anyone was a lost cause. As a teenager, she had been a troublemaker and almost ended up killing her friends while drunk driving. After losing her foster parents, she’d changed, realizing how stupid and foolish she’d been for so long. It was too late for her and her parents, but she could help others.
“No one is ever a lost cause,” Paige replied softly. “I mean I don’t think I deserve a guardian angel, but I did get one in the end. Leo is actually all of our angels, but whatever. My point is no one is completely incapable of being saved.”
***
That was a good way to look at it and Shawn agreed with her. He’d managed to clean up his act and have a successful career. He even managed not to completely suck as a dad. Hopefully, he’d be able to remain a decent enough uncle since he and Riley only had each other left.
“We probably all feel that way sometimes,” he said, hoping his words would be reassuring.
*** “I agree.” Paige replied softly. But everyone did deserve a second chance. Well, mostly. Paige knew things like demons and that from her world definitely didn’t.
“I should get going. I’m wrecking your shot.”
***
Shawn waved off the concern. “No big deal,” he said. “I’m just shooting for fun. But I’m sure you do actually have somewhere you’re supposed to be.” Since she hadn’t been aiming for this place when she teleported in.
“It was nice chatting with you.”
*** “Oh, that I do.” Paige gave him a smile and a wave before she was shrouded in blue and white light and gone in a flash.