One of the many wonderful bonuses of Halliwell Manor being dropped straight into the suburbs of Vallo City, as if it had always been there, was that it was more than just the house - it was the entire property. It was more than big enough for its current three human, one kanine, and one feline residents and included a spacious backyard. Part of it was cordoned off, creating a garden full of steadily blooming spring flowers, but beside the driveway was a chunk of meticulously maintained grass that was perfect for just what her little family was doing now.
Willa had been not-all-too-surprisingly eager to join Little League when Raylan had taken her around to find her an extracurricular activity to join. She was seven years old, bursting at the seams with energy that she needed to burn off in ways that didn’t involve chasing the dog. And she had opinions, so of course, it had been entirely her call. Prue suspected it was those puppy dog eyes of her that had gotten her daddy to sign up for a coach role as well.
And it was those soulful puppy dog eyes of her daddy’s that had gotten Prue to volunteer herself as assistant coach.
She had always been athletic. She’d been a cheerleader through middle school and high school - head cheerleader, in fact - and Andy had played baseball and football. So, while she wasn’t unfamiliar and her hand-eye coordination was pretty on-point, tossing the ball around between them was a refresher course for her, too. A good one, though - she was enjoying herself, especially watching the way Willa’s eyes squinted in concentration when the ball was thrown in her direction.
Oddly, it reminded her of…herself.
She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail and through the back of a baseball cap featuring Willa’s Little League team mascot on the front and flexed her left hand around her glove, tossing her ball into the mitt. “Here it comes,” she announced, probably unnecessarily, as she tossed the ball underhand to the little girl again.
Raylan watched as Willa clapped a hand over the ball once it landed in her glove. “Good! That’s good, baby girl. What you want to do when it lands in your glove is squeeze though, like…” He motioned for his daughter to throw him the ball. Willa wound up, arm extended behind her, then threw it as hard as she could. If he’d been on his feet it would have hit him about the knees but staying down on his knees meant they could work on focusing on the glove as a target. He caught it and showed her the inside of the glove. “See? Then it won’t roll out. That way you can take the other hand and…” He took the ball from his glove and lightly tossed it to Prue. “Incoming!”
From the moment Winona told him she was pregnant, a surprise to them both, Raylan suffered his fair share of anxieties about the future. His own childhood had been less than ideal, a father in and out of prison and no concern about being involved when he wasn’t, scraping by to put food on the table and keep a roof over the house until Arlo’s cocaine windfall led to them taking over the family home on the Givens side. The son of a fire and brimstone preacher, Arlo seemed fine with marrying a witch but took issue with her and Raylan being ‘otherly’. (Why he’d married his Aunt Helen after his mama passed when Helen was the same made no sense to Raylan either but they seemed to be happy in making each other miserable.) Would his own upbringing affect how he raised his own child?
It did but in all Raylan’s worrying he never figured that the effect might be opposite, that knowing the man his father had been Raylan might try to give Willa everything he could so she could be a child, always feel safe and protected, as much as she could given the state of their surroundings. He wanted to be a part of her life, learn with her, grow with her, make home a place she always knew she could return to - or would want to return to. He didn’t want to think too far ahead though, not while she was still a little thing dependent on him and Prue.
Prue. Vallo brought plenty of unexpected challenges but it brought him some gifts too. He never expected to find a family there, a home, and a woman he loved in a way he never thought he would again after Winona. With Prue there was an ease, a solid foundation of love and respect with friendship. Waking up next to her in the morning, falling asleep next to her at night felt like something that he’d missed in life for a while but now the piece fell into place. A bit slow to realize the full extent of how much he cared maybe but watching her navigate that hellscape of a mansion, the idea of losing her, kept him attached to the feed for however long it occurred. (A lack of sleep meant the days and hours blurred together.) Once she was back, he wanted to make sure she knew how much she was loved and wanted right there with them. Part of him, part of their family.
“Daddy!” Raylan was jolted out of his thoughts by the ball smacking into his thigh hard enough to sting. Willa was starting to get an arm on her. “I said it was coming!”
Well it wasn’t her fault he’d been lost in thought, marveling at his luck in life, taking count of his blessings, the two biggest standing at opposite sides in front of him. “That’s my bad, Willa. I wasn’t paying attention.” He scooped up the ball and glanced at Prue. “How about a pop fly?”
Prue knew Raylan well enough to know when he was lost in thoughts. It was one of his more adorable traits - one of many, in her very biased opinion - but not the most convenient one when a baseball was being actively tossed around between the three of them. She nearly deflected Willa’s throw to him, redirecting the ball’s path to her to avoid the smack that occurred, but she let it fly. Sometimes, these things were going to happen. Baseball wasn’t a particularly rough sport, but accidents could happen.
God, she could kiss him when he did dumb things. The Mari Lwyd incident stood out in her memory - it had been so stupid, so ill thought out, but she had kissed him breathless that night. Stupidity had never been a turn-on for her, but he was such a sweetheart and such a stubborn ass at the same time, and somehow that had this intense aphrodisiac effect on her. She couldn’t entirely explain it - she’d just fallen for him, hard, and loved every one of his attributes and his flaws.
“Your kind of pop fly or my kind of pop fly?” she teased with a smirk. A flick of her fingers and the ball popped right out of Raylan’s hand, surged into the air, did a couple loops (for fun) and careened neatly down into Prue’s open glove. “Mine’s prettier.”
It was sheer reaction for him to swipe at the ball when it popped out of his glove by unseen force. Raylan still wasn’t used to the random object flying up and away from him but in that way that him expecting it would go against what Prue was trying to achieve. Realizing what she was doing, he chewed on his bottom lip with a look of pure affection and amusement. Gods he loved this woman. “Show off.”
“I want the pretty pop fly!” Willa shouted as she stretched up on her tiptoes, glove held above her head with both hands. Raylan raised a finger to Prue, making as if to sneak up to Willa and catching her around her stomach suddenly, lifting his daughter up to a superhero pose in his arms.
“We’re ready with the special catch for the special pop fly!” he called to Prue, grinning widely as Willa squealed in surprise before lapsing into giggles, arms waving out in front of her with the glove.
Prue shrugged without denying it; she was a show-off, and there was no use pretending otherwise. She always had been a little bit of a show-off, something Phoebe had often given her a hard time for, but it was just in her nature. It went hand-in-hand with the overinflated sense of pride she felt - not arrogance, not quite, but not too far off when she was feeling herself.
“One special pop fly for my favorite girl!” she replied with a big grin of her own. “Don’t forget to squeeze when you catch it!” She pulled the ball out of her glove, tossed it into the air, and with another few flicks of her hand, creating some tight loops, it came crashing (gently) down into Willa’s raised hand.
Willa stretched in his grasp but it was more out of eagerness to catch the ball than need as Prue guided the ball right to her glove. She squeezed just as Raylan and Prue reminded her and let out a victorious shout, waving the glove and ball in the air as Raylan spun her around. “Did you see that beaut?” he called to Prue, knowing she did but the rhetorical question fit the celebratory atmosphere.
He set Willa down and tugged her shirt back down, made complicated by Willa already grabbing the ball from her glove and pulling her arm way back to throw it back to Prue. “Small fry pop fly!” she shouted and Raylan let out a surprised laugh. They were not wrong about kids saying the darndest thing but it didn’t make it any less surprising when Willa popped off with some odd phrase.
Prue was laughing, too, pleased for Willa and surprised by her comment. She was a clever kid, full of questions and chatter, but she had this adorably quirky sense of humor that very much reminded Prue of Raylan. Gracie had seemed to be much the same, and she was glad for that. She was the exact opposite of laidback, though she’d come a long way closer to it in Vallo, so she was glad the girls would pick up some of those traits from their dad.
“That was excellent, sweetie,” she praised her. She raised her eyes to Raylan’s. “I feel like ‘Small Fry’ needs to be the name on her jersey now. And you can be ‘Big Fry’.”
Willa’s eyes widened and she turned to look up at Raylan. “Can we?” she asked. Raylan hesitated, unsure if the shirts even had names on the back of them or if she would end up changing her mind down the line. (The kid had a habit of doing that to both him and Prue.)
“We’ll see, kiddo,” he stated, tapping the brim of her hat. It slipped down over her eyes and she lifted her chin as if peering under the lowered brim. “Why don’t you go get some juice and then maybe we’ll work on a little batting practice, huh?”
The kid scrambling off into the house, Raylan reached out to put his arm around Prue’s waist. “Have I ever told you how incredibly sexy and amazing you are? I feel like I haven’t today and that is unfortunate. Slacking on my boyfriend duties,” he murmured. “I love watching you two together. It feels right.”
“You’re doing just fine, Big Fry,” Prue teased, leaning into him and lifting her head to smile at him. She knew Raylan had to work out how to split himself between the two of them and his other responsibilities, too, without sacrificing any part of himself. She’d struggled to learn how to do the same, but she though they were both on pretty steady ground right now.
“But I appreciate that, and I love you for reminding me, anyway,” she added, leaning up on her toes for a moment to steal a kiss. “And I love her. She’s a good kid. I just - I’d hate to make her feel like I’m replacing her mom.”
That had been a big concern from her since the moment she’d started being present in Willa’s life. The fear had mostly eased, and she thought she did a good job of making sure to be a good stepmother figure without going too far. But who knew if Winona would ever end up here, too? These were very murky waters to navigate.
It wasn’t an unwarranted concern. Raylan wanted to make sure that Willa felt as at ease around Prue as she would around him or Winona but with Winona not present in Vallo, it was a challenge he was learning how to navigate. “Hey.” Raylan rested a hand against her cheek and leaned in to kiss her.
“Willa ain’t ever gonna forget Winona’s her mama and I won’t let her either. She’s got five years of good memories with her and I speak on her from time to time. What that doesn’t change is your place in her life. She loves and adores you in a way that belongs to you and you alone and the place she’s made for you in her life because she wants you there. You’re good for her, Prue, and I am thankful everyday she’s gonna grow up with you in her life.” Much like Willa having a stepfather back home and how they worked things out so no one was left out or behind. In fact they worked as a damn good team if the memories Raylan received were accurate. “Plenty go through life barely able to find the love they deserve. Willa’s gonna grow up surrounded by people who love and support her. She is one lucky kid.”
It was easier for him to speak from a vulnerable place regarding Willa but when it came to himself, there was still a bit of a struggle there. The household growing up didn’t make a hospitable atmosphere for emotional vulnerability though the women who raised him wouldn’t let him become a hard-hearted son of a bitch entirely though.
“I love you. I love you so much sometimes it’s a little scary opening up that much to someone. I trust you though and that makes it all worth it,” he added after a moment. “I am very glad you Tag’d me, Prue Halliwell.”
Prue grinned and cupped his face to pull him down for another kiss. She teased him about straining her back to kiss her, with such a height difference, but she unashamedly pulled him down like this often, anyway. It was silly and something her grams would roll her eyes and chastise her for, but there was a certain level of protection she felt, having a man in the house. Someone tall and strong and tough, so she didn’t always have to take charge. Not that she generally minded - being the oldest of three girls and the most powerful of three witches (at least at one point, now she’d probably give that medal to Piper) had turned her into the protector a long time ago.
“I’m very glad I Tag’d you, too. It worked out much better than I’d ever have imagined, but then again, I come from an era of dating services, not websites. And apps—” She shook her head. The way technology had progressed (and from what she knew, it was even further along here in Vallo than back home in this year) had blown her mind. She was accustomed to it now, but in 2001, cell phones had really just started to become ubiquitous, nevermind iPhones that were essentially mini-computers and a cell phone.
But, now that she’d been suitably reassured, she stole another kiss and grabbed Raylan’s hands, pulling him back over to the garden proper where there were chairs to lounge in. “I’m thankful for you, too,” she added, sliding into his lap when he sat instead of taking a seat of her own. “And for Willa. You two have been this…light in my life that I never expected.”
Once they’d broken the kiss his arms slipped back around her to hug her tightly to him, chin resting on top of her head. The position was comforting, calming. He could stand there for hours in theory though he doubted neither one of them would or could stand around for that long just to test it. They were both movers, finding something to do and only settling once the day was done.
“I understand entirely. Dating apps were becoming a thing back home and my ex even tried to get me on one, figured it might help me find a date with me working so much. Never tried it out until here and I think maybe we were just meant to try it that once.” Raylan snorted softly. “I’ll be honest, didn’t expect much. Effort into it wasn’t a whole lot and the pictures all came from Willa playing with my phone.” Though how the kid managed to get past his password to do so in the first place he’d yet to figure out.
Raylan was all too happy to follow her lead over to the patio furniture, sitting down and opening his arms to her, resting his chin on her shoulder. A habit he’d developed around Prue, something about touch, closeness that made him feel content. “I didn’t expect any of this either and I think it is the happiest I’ve ever been. I feel good about us, all three of us, you and me…” he trailed off. “Something I wanted but seemed like I would never get. Now I have it and it was more than worth the wait. You were more than worth the wait.”
It had been a very long time since Prue had anyone who talked to sweetly - not just to her but about her. It gave her these butterflies in her stomach, made her heart beat a little faster, echoing in her ears. She had resigned herself to never finding something like this a while ago - her duties as a Charmed One and protecting her sisters had superseded it all. She thought she’d lost her soulmate when she lost Andy, and as much as she might hope for it, there was no other love out there for her.
That proved not to be the case. Of course, even in her wildest dreams, she’d never have imagined it would take dying and waking up in an alternate universe (twice, technically, after a month-long gap she’d given up trying to understand) to find it. Things were different here, though. She didn’t have to be Charmed or fulfill those responsibilities. She could just be a person with a life, and that was another something she never thought she’d have after accepting her witchly powers.
“I love you,” was her response when she finally spoke, tilting her head to lean against the top of Raylan’s. This was hardly the first time she said it — they’d been together for a while now, and even though they were both a little prickly on the outside, when they ‘caught feelings’ (as the kids said nowadays), there hadn’t been much holding back. “Thank you for being so good to me.”
“You deserve the world and at the very least someone being good to you. Good people like you put everyone and everything before themselves but if you will have me, I want to spend the rest of my life makin’ my girls the center of my universe.”
Once upon a time he couldn’t fathom a life outside of being a deputy marshal, moreso once his marriage fell apart. He had briefly considered the idea of family and a home but it slipped through his fingers like grains of sand as soon as he let himself warm to the idea. Life here let them veer away from those expectations though and here the two of them sat outside of her family’s manor, talking about futures and just content in each other’s presence.
“I also promise not to let anymore Mari Lwyds in the house.” He could acknowledge his faults and find the humor in them, especially when the worst of it was the otherworldly creature just eating the entirety of their food stores.
Prue laughed and kissed him right on his forehead. “Yeah, I would appreciate that. This house has enough demonic crap attached to it. Let’s not make it worse by letting in skeletal horses.” She teased because she loved, though. Despite that damn horse eating them out of house and home because of Raylan’s stubbornness, they had made it through, and if anything, Prue had only fallen more in love with him.
Their moment was interrupted by the back door opening and a bark announcing the presence of Calamity Jane (the canine version, not Nicole and Waverly’s feline version) and Willa as they burst back into the yard. “Well, hi there,” Prue chuckled, standing up to greet the dog and give her some enthusiastic ear scritches. She had always been more of a cat person, but she’d come to consider Calamity a member of the family pretty quickly.
“Ready for batting practice, sweet girl?” she asked Willa, taking the Capri-Sun that was held out to her to stab the straw through the hole at the top. “We’ll have you knocking the ball out of the park in no time, right, Dad?”
“Skeletal horses unaffected by necromancy at that.” One of the many methods Raylan tried to show the Mari Lwyd the door before it was done but the skeleton horse continued unbothered by the defeated man in the doorway. “Though if we are subject to ridiculous moments scattered through our lives like that for the happiness we have, I can absolutely handle replenishing our groceries for my sins.”
For that brief time they seemed to exist alone in the world, Raylan marveling in how he’d managed to wind up with this woman in his life and she’d stayed, when the door opening and Calamity announcing their return broke through those thoughts. As Prue rose to her feet, he stayed sitting a moment longer, watching her and Willa. This. This was the life he wanted.
Raylan got up from his seat and turned his cap backwards. “Out of the park? Nah, we’ll have you aiming for the heavens.”