Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. Not one single bit of it. :'(
Although this fic is mostly Phoebe/Cole, it's also a story about family and finding a place to belong. Secondly this fic is not supernatural, so don't expect any demons, warlocks or magical powers to come.
Well, I think that's all you need to know for now. If you have some questions, don't be afraid to ask. Let's begin with this first chapter...
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Awakened from the dark night a boiling red spot slowly started to rise in the air. It wouldn't take long before it's bright light would warm every possible place it saw. Presently the sun would also discover a little town, where the people were used to the heat.
The sun wasn't the only thing the people were used to, although the town was small, there was never a peaceful day. It wasn't surprising when some men got caught up in a gunfight with no particular reason. Thieves, murders and rapers, the town was alive with them. The sheriff did the best he could, but he was already an old man, and a lot eluded his observation.
Just like every other town there was a saloon, where the people came for amusement and alcohol. The unusual thing was that the saloon was owned by a woman, Piper Halliwell. She had lived with her two sisters, Prue and Phoebe, in this town their whole lives. They were used to their rough surroundings.
The wildest and the youngest of the three sisters, by being 21 years old, sat not very awake with an old woman at a table in Piper's saloon. Phoebe surpressed a yawn, she usually didn't get up this early in the morning. It was because one of her customers that she already was out of her bed.
She looked sleepily at the hand of the old lady. What would she say today about the woman's future? It didn't matter really. As long as she predicted fortunate things to come, her customers were satisfied. Phoebe was a palmist, at least that's what she said she was. She was actually very surprised if one of her predictions came true.
It was very rare for someone to be a palmreader in this time, especially at this place. But then again, there was nothing ordinary about the Halliwells. They were very independent and strong women unlike the most women in this town who obediently followed their men. Maybe it was because of the early loss of their mother and their father leaving them, which made the Halliwells the way they were.
"I can't understand people really believe in that," Prue shook her head, as Phoebe walked to her sisters at the bar after she was done reading the lines on the woman's hand.
Her sisters didn't really like Phoebe being a palmist. Of course there were worse jobs than that, Phoebe could have been a prostitue or a criminal, but they'd rather had wanted their youngest sister to have a job, that was more stable and didn't have to relay on how trusting the people were.
"They all predict the same thing..." Prue took a hold of Phoebe's hand and pretended to see something, "...oh, Miss Halliwell, you're going to meet a dark, tall and mysterious stranger who will change your life forever."
Phoebe gave Prue a fake laugh, showing she didn't think it was funny.
"I don't say cheesy lines like that to people. I make up things that are much more believable," Phoebe said.
"Did she just brag she's a good fraud?" Prue turned to Piper who slightly had followed their conversation.
"I think so," Piper smiled, while she was cleaning some glasses behind the bar.
"Hey! I'm still standing right here!" Phoebe interrupted them, "...and you can't say I don't have customers."
"I think the most of your customers come here, because of your looks than of really wanting to know the future."
"Jealous of my admirers, Prue?" Phoebe joked, because she know Prue was right. The men who came here for wanting to know the future, usually used that as an excuse to get her in bed.
"Not at all," Prue answered Phoebe seriously.
There was only one man in Prue's life. The oldest sister of the Halliwell's was already married to Andy Trudeau for quite some years. He was the sheriff of another town nearby. Prue travelled a lot between those two towns, going from her man to her sisters. Although her sisters were both grown-ups, Prue couldn't escape the feeling of wanting to protect and take care of her sisters.
"Speaking of admirers... that guy, who drools because of you, just walks in, Piper," Phoebe smiled to Piper who began to blush.
"Who?" Prue asked curiously, while she looked to the men in the saloon.
"Liam, the doctor's son," Phoebe waved to a man who took a seat by a table.
That man sure came here a lot. He wasn't a violent man like the most men in this place were. He was very handy as well, he had repaired some broken chairs and tables in the saloon the other day. Phoebe usually flirted with every man she saw, but she hadn't done that to him, because it was obvious from the very beginning he had a crush on her sister. The first time he came here, he ran bump against a wall, because he was too busy staring at Piper.
"His name is Leo," Piper corrected Phoebe.
Phoebe and Prue gazed interested at Piper, wanting to hear more about her and the handyman.
"We just talked," Piper explained, while her red cheeks didn't seem to dissappear at all.
Phoebe and Prue exchanged a look to each other. Piper was the geekiest one of the sisters. Unlike her two sisters she was shy when it came to men. She build up her relations very slowly and carefully. By the time Piper finally kissed someone Phoebe already had dumped 5 guys.
"We'll leave you two... talking then. Are you going with me, Phoebe?" Prue asked.
"Where to?"
"The farm."
"No thanks... that's... boring," Phoebe stared not impressed to her sister.
Every once in a while the Halliwell sisters went to a farm nearby for milk and other supplies. A seventeen year old girl Jodie and her uncle lived there. Phoebe liked Jodie, who was a bit of a klutz, but Jodie's silent uncle gave Phoebe the creeps. She didn't know why though.
The oldest Halliwell sister frowned at her baby sister, who thought anything in this town was boring. Even though they had seen many fights in this dangerous town, especially in Piper's saloon.
As Prue got ready to take off, another man walked into the saloon. The spurs on his cowboy boots made a clinking sound by every step he made. His hair was neatly combed back and very greasy. With his light grey eyes he scanned the place to see someone he expected to be here. There appeared a great grin on his face when he saw the back of a young lady with long brown hair.
"Phoebe, it was about time we would drink something together," he tapped softly on her shoulder, through which she turned round and looked surprized into his eyes.
"Matt! Uh... yeah... and you know I'd love to... but I don't have time now... I'm very busy... with uh..." Phoebe stammered, looking around for a way out, which she found when Prue just wanted to leave the saloon, "... going to the farm with Prue, yes... that's what I'm doing, going with my sister."
Prue gave a confused gaze at Phoebe, who put an arm around her.
"Didn't you just say that was bo..."
"Bold. I said it was very bold," Phoebe quickly cut her sister off.
The smile on Matt's face changed into a dissappointed look.
"Uh... I'll see you later then," he said, while he walked to the bar to get a drink from Piper.
"You're terrible, Phoebe," Prue sighed, when they were outside and Prue realized why Phoebe suddenly decided to go to the farm with her.
"Yeah, but lovable at the same time," Phoebe smiled with puppy dog eyes to Prue.
"You have to go out with him someday, you promised him," Prue reminded the palmist.
"I know, but he's so... uh... how do you say that nicely? Uh... completely boring."
"Maybe you should go for the boring type for a change. All those dangerous bastards you dated before..."Prue already got the shivers only thinking about them.
Prue worried a lot about her youngest sister, especially because of the men she was attracted to. Everytime when she thought Phoebe couldn't choose anyone worse then the ones she already had, her sister surprised her with another jerk. Those men actually reminded Prue of the ones she dated in her past, before she met Andy. She just hoped her sister would end up with someone good like Andy as well, but the chance of that was little.
"They weren't all bastards," Phoebe contradicted.
Prue raised one of her eyebrows, wondering which one of Phoebe's lovers couldn't be labeled like that.
"Okay, they were," Phoebe gave in, after she couldn't remember one man treating her properly.
It was hard to say which man was the greatest disaster. The man who turned out to be married and have 5 children, the drunk lunatic, the incorrigible liar and then there were the men who left without any reason.
But it didn't bother Phoebe much when one of her relations failed again. Men were just for fun. Who needed a serious relation anyway?
"Well, if you're going to dump Matt, do it subtle then. He's the sheriff's son and if we get any trouble with him..." Prue began to talk about Matt again.
"Why do you think I promised to go out with him in the first place?" Phoebe cut her sister off, because she got tired of Prue's warnings.
Somewhere deep in her heart Phoebe knew her sister only wanted the best for her, but whenever Prue told her what to do, she desperately felt the urge to do the opposite thing. The annoying thing was that Prue was right, she was always right.
Phoebe knew she wasn't the most responisble one of the sisters, it surprised no one she was the sister who got in trouble all the time. It felt like everything she did was doomed to go wrong. If her sisters had the chance to completely control her life, so that they could prevent every mistake Phoebe made, they would be more than happy to do so.
Phoebe loved her sisters, she really did and her sisters loved her too. They hadn't had it easy with the early death of their mother and their father abandoning them. Her sisters were a great support and it was safe to live here above the saloon, but sometimes Phoebe felt so trapped in this town. She wanted to know whether there was more than this town.
She was planning on leaving here soon. To her sisters she was more a burden than a help. She didn't make much money by fortunetelling, but she already had saved some money to get out of here. Just a little bit more money and she was gone. Her sisters didn't know anything about her plans, because if they did, they would convince her to stay. That was the last thing Phoebe wanted; her sisters preventing her for making another so called mistake.
It would be irresponsible and wild to leave in an impulse. It was exactly what Phoebe was. The idea of being free, doing everything she wanted without her sister judging her allured her a lot. She couldn't wait to leave.
Prue and Phoebe arrived at the ranch, where they saw Jodie Turner. Her dark blue eyes and black curly hair made her a beautiful girl for men to look at, however she didn't realize that herself. She didn't care about her appearances and usually wore threadbare clothes. Jodie welcomed them with a friendly smile. The girl didn't see many people apart from her uncle, so it was a nice change when the Halliwells came.
After a small conversation Phoebe agreed to get the milk-cans out of the farm, leaving Jodie and Prue talking outside. She walked sighing into Jodie's home, muttering at herself if she could be doing anything more boring than this. Maybe she'd have had more fun if she had chosen to have a drink with Matt. Maybe not...
"What are you doing here? Who are you?" she suddenly heard someone saying behind her.
Phoebe turned round, seeing something she hadn't expect to see at all. A man with short brown hair stood right in front of her, his blue eyes piercing at her, trying to find out what she was up to. Phoebe was immediately atrracted by him. Oddly enough, he was only wearingdrawers. She would have laughed and flirted with him if he hadn't a revolver in his hands pointing at her.
"Phoebe... Halliwell..." Phoebe answered when she got over her surprise, "I came for... milk."
She pointed to the milk-cans at the other side of the living room. The man looked at the milk-churns, realizing the woman spoke the truth. He laid his gun down at a wooden table.
"And you are...?" Phoebe asked, relieved he had put the revolver away.
"Uh... not fully clothed apparently," he became suddenly aware he stood there only in his underwear, which made him feel even more stupid.
He was just awake and after he heared the noise of someone walking into the house, he had thought someone had broken into the house. In an impulse he had grabbed his gun and sneaked up on to her, without thinking about getting dressed. This was obviously not one of his best days, in his underwear threatening an innocent woman with a gun wasn't his idea of good manners.
He still had to get used of living in this farm. Although it wasn't the most safe place to be, he had to get rid of the idea he could be attacked any minute. But it was hard for him to look at people without getting suspicous. It wasn't in his nature to believe people had good intentions.
"Sorry, I didn't expect anyone to be here. I didn't mean to... stand here in my underwear," he said embarrassed, while he put on his trousers.
"Oh, you definitely don't have to apologise for that," Phoebe giggled.
It was natural for her to flirt, actually she didn't really know how to approach a man without flirting. However he ignored her comment, which was new to Phoebe. Men usually fell in love with her right away, well, not with her, only with her body. But Phoebe didn't get discouraged by his cold attitude. Maybe he just didn't hear her or was he too busy getting dressed.
"Phoebe Halliwell you said? You're the palmreader?" the young man asked surprised.
He heard the rumors about a palmreader who lived in the town nearby. But he hadn't been very interested in that, he didn't believe in such nonsense as someone predicting the future. He would have pictured her as an old lady who wanted to make some money by deceiving people. However this woman was young and very attractive. She probably already had charmed a lot of men with those two dark brown eyes which were staring at him now.
"Yes... and who are you?" she asked a bit unsure, while she wondered what he had heard about her.
"Cole Turner. I'm Jodie's brother."
Phoebe gave him a quick nod. She didn't know Jodie had a brother. Now she thought about it, she couldn't remember Jodie ever talking about a brother.
"I haven't seen you around here before,"Phoebe remarked.
"I came here a few days ago," Cole explained.
"Phoebe?" Prue walked into the room, getting worried why Phoebe still hadn't returned. She looked at her sister and Cole. She greeted Cole, she had already heard from Jodie her brother was here as well.
"Phoebe, we should go," Prue told Phoebe, after she grabbed a milk-churn.
Phoebe reluctantly followed her sister after giving a short smile to Cole. She would have loved to talk some more to Cole. She thought it adorable to see how embarrased he had been. It didn't happen every day she met a handsome man with such sweet eyes. Then again, it didn't happen everyday someone wanted to shoot her.
"Oh no, you don't," Prue warned Phoebe, as they walked back to Piper's saloon.
"What?"
"I know that look on your face, Phoebe. Like you're some kind of wild animal ready to catch your prey. You're not going to begin anything with Cole, okay?"
"Why not?" Phoebe asked, she didn't like it when Prue meddled with her love life.
"Because I heard from Jodie he's here with his girlfriend."
"Let's repeat my question... why not?"
"Phoebe!" Prue yelled, not understanding her youngest sister would want to seduce someone who was already taken.
"Gee... I was just kidding, Prue," Phoebe rolled her eyes, "I'll keep 'my claws' off Cole... He didn't like me anyway."
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"Where's Cole Turner? I know he's been here."
A man, in his mid thirties, stared with his dark eyes at the older man who sat behind a desk and avoided his gaze. The man kept his eyes focused at the old man, while he threw the stump of the cigar he had been smoking at him. The old, bald-headed man looked not impressed at the stump, which landed on the floor.
"I can only remember something vaguely, you get that at my age... Maybe I know more if I had more money," the bald-headed man suggested.
The youngest of the two men in the room became impatient. He didn't want to waste any of his time longer than needed by interrogating this money-grubber. He walked towards the old man, pulled out his gun and seized the man his throat.
"Or maybe if you tell me, I won't shoot your head off," he threatened, while he pressed the fire-arm against the temple of the bald-headed man.
"Easy... easy... Raynor," the old man could hardly speak,"... He... headed west from here."
"Thanks," Raynor mumbled, letting go of the man's throat.
The old man touched relieved with his hands his throat. Raynor looked coldly at him, now he had the information he wanted the old man had no use more for him. He didn't doubt one second before he shot the man in his head.
He walked outside, where his horse and men were waiting for him. He vaulted into the saddle, knowing he was getting closer. It wouldn't take long before he would find out where Cole, the man who betrayed him, was.
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Whoa, that was long for a first chapter. So... how was it? Good? Bad? A complete nightmare?
Give me a review if you want to read more. I'm at the moment not sure whether I'm going to continue this story or not... So I think I'm going to let my decision depend on what kind of reviews I'll get... well, if I get any of course...
Also, if one of you reading this, thanks to you who reviewed the last chapter of 'Between Good and Evil':)