Staying Over

"Jesus Amy, you look more nervous than I am" Holly noticed as her car pulled up in the Petersen driveway "My family really aren't that scary"

"I know, sorry" the undercover witch exhaled, and tried to compose herself, as bad decisions made four centuries ago were about to catch up with her in a major way "First impressions are so important though, and I want to make a good one"

"I'm glad this is serious to you" Holly smiled and placed her hand on Amy's "But I can't imagine why you wouldn't make a great first impression on anyone. You certainly did on me"

"Thanks" Amy nodded "Though, if I'm honest, I wish you'd told them I was a woman in advance rather than going with the extra pressure of the whole shock reveal thing"

"Yeah, that felt way more fun in my head than it does now its actually happening" Holly admitted "Come on, lets get the awkward bit over with then we can eat"

It was Mary who opened the door and, while visibly a little taken aback initially, she wasn't thrown for too long and welcomed Amy into the Petersen household with a warm embrace. John made a couple of awkward Dad jokes about the unexpected development, though nothing that was too mortifying for Holly, but it was Maisie who really grabbed the witches attention.

"My God, this is such a good looking family. You're beautiful!" she told her girlfriends younger sister who smiled back a little bashfully.

It wasn't just Maisie's pretty face that Amy had noticed, though. The amount of magical charge coming off her was crazy. The polite, nondescript looking young man, who always made sure he was stood or sat right next to her, was obviously Maisie's master, and even if her family were aware of that, they probably didn't realise just how much he was using her curse.

Holly had faint traces of magical residue that the witch could sense, maybe two or three longstanding commands that were affecting her, nothing particularly recent. Maisie, on the other had, was practically radiating with it. Amy had no immediate way of telling what they did, but there were a whole stack of longstanding commands that Maisie was under the influence of. On top of that, it was clear several shorter term ones had been cast on her, then reversed or been timed to wear off, within the past several hours. It might all be perfectly innocent, but the subtle way she had been made to appear, at least to the untrained eye, completely normal and unaffected spoke to calculated and potentially concerning behaviour from a master that Holly seemed to trust.

That could be probed into later, and potentially used even further down the line as motivation for Holly to do what was necessary to free her younger sister from the curse. In the meantime, dinner was served. It turned out Holly wasn't lying about her mother being a great cook, and while she enjoyed a delicious meal the family made pleasant conversation with Amy. They didn't probe too much into her past, and she didn't talk about anything further back than Portland. John then had great fun telling Amy a few embarrassing stories from her girlfriends childhood and awkward teenage years, which caused Holly to blush and play with her hair in a manner that Amy found adorable. The witch was having a wonderful time. She liked these people very much, and felt sure that sentiment was reciprocated. More importantly than that, what she had with Holly was starting to feel very natural and right. For now, she would put all the guilt and complications to the back of her mind and live in the moment.

Dinner was followed by wine and yet more warm and enjoyable conversation in the living room.

"It's so nice to see Holly looking this happy" Mary smiled across at Amy, who was cuddled up with her daughter on the couch "You will both spend the night here won't you?"

Amy looked at Holly, who nodded at her, before happily accepting the invitation. As the evening drew on John and Mary excused themselves for an early night and a while later, somewhat reluctantly, Maisie's friend went home, leaving the witch alone with the two sisters.

"You going to stay up and hang out with us this evening, Mais?" Holly asked.

"Sure, I feel like a late one!" the younger sister smiled back enthusiastically.

Amy couldn't help but notice how Maisie seemed to brighten up when she wasn't permanently sitting in the shadow of her master. It seemed like she was fond of him, but also that he was a somewhat dominating presence over her. Without wanting to feel mean spirited, Amy couldn't really see how a guy like that could wield such an influence over someone like Maisie without the aid of magic. But he was gone for now, and finally it felt like Amy might get to know the person in her girlfriends life who interested her by far the most.