Demons Of The Past
Chapter One
Silence
Phoebe has only been back home for about a week after Grams passed away, and even though they all have their powers back and know they are witches, she won't open up to her sisters about her time in New York or anything. She offers her help with taking care of demons when they have them, but for the most part, she stays in her room, just throwing herself into her own thing. She's reading on a Friday when Piper knocks on her door.
"Hey, you wanna go with Prue and me tonight to Quake? There's a small party there for all the staff and their families, and I told my boss that I would try to bring the both of you." Piper says, and she sits in a nearby chair to try to talk to her.
"I'll just stay here and read tonight. Thanks though. Have fun." Phoebe replies, and she doesn't even look up from her book. Piper leaves the room and goes into Prue's room to find her almost ready. She's just working with her makeup and she asks about Phoebe, who still won't come out of her room.
"I don't know what's wrong with her. She's not been right ever since she came back from New York. I've tried to get her to open up and talk, but she won't. I wonder if she left someone behind and she misses them, or if she didn't really want to come back here." Piper tells her.
"Piper honey, Phoebe's Phoebe. Give her time. She's been gone for three whole months. In that time there, she had a job, a boyfriend, her own place, I mean, she was doing really good out there. She's just probably trying to adjust all over again." Prue replies, and they go ahead on over to Quake to join the party but the events at the manor with Phoebe, left Piper nearly unsociable for the whole night with everyone.
The next morning, Prue gets downstairs and she sees Phoebe there and decides to try and talk to her.
"Hey you. Good morning." Prue says, not knowing that Phoebe had her headphones in her ears and couldn't hear her. Prue tries again and when she touches Phoebe's shoulder, it scared her so bad that she fell out of her chair.
"Prue. You scared me, don't do that." Phoebe tells her.
"I didn't mean to scare you honey. I was only saying good morning to you. I was wanting to ask you if you're okay. I'm sorry." Prue replies, and Phoebe just sits there on the floor for a minute before she gets up and goes into the living room to lay in front of the fire place.
"Pheebes, if it's none of my business just say so. Did something happen in New York? Did you find someone to be with, and then when you came back here, he didn't want to come with you?" Prue asks, making sure to sit on the couch.
"No. Nothing like that. I don't want to talk about it. I'll be okay, just give me some time." Phoebe tells her. Prue decides to leave it alone for awhile, thinking that in time, Phoebe will come around. She doesn't know though, that the only thing that's going to make Phoebe talk, is the events of the weeks to come.
Chapter Two
Stalked
Phoebe is still not talking very much to anyone but still just keeping to herself when she's not out looking for work. She's on the front steps one morning when the phone rings. She goes inside to answer it, not realizing that Piper and Prue are still home and haven't left yet.
"Been thinking a lot about you. Did I not tell you to never leave here without me?" The person on the other line tells her.
"I told you why I had to leave. I also told you that I wanted nothing to do with you anymore after, well you know what happened. I put up with this for the three months I was there. Just leave me alone okay." Phoebe tells him.
"No no, you know that's not going to happen now don't ya? I know where you are at right now as we speak. I know what house you're in, what your address is, I know everything about you Phoebe Jayne Halliwell. Your sisters names are Prudence Maria Halliwell, and Piper Marie Halliwell. You live on the corner of Prescott and Pine in San Francisco, and you all call your house, Halliwell manor. Your sister Piper drives a dark blue jeep, your other sister Prue drives a black car, while you my dear, still ride just your bike everywhere." The man replies.
"That's because within a month you screwed my credit up to where I lost my car, and then when I confronted you about it, that's when everything started. Just leave me alone, and go away!" Phoebe hollers, and she then hears, "Pheebes? This is serious. I think I know what's going on now." Phoebe tells the man on the phone to just leave her alone and once again, and then she hangs up on him.
"I have to get out of here for awhile." Phoebe says while grabbing her running shoes, slipping them on really fast, tying them, and running out the front door to avoid talking.
"Phoebe please, come back. Talk to us honey, that's what we're here for!" Prue calls after her as she continues to run down the sidewalk until she's out of sight.
"Prue? What the heck's going on?" Piper asks, while heading out to check the mail anyway.
"Someone called her from New York I'm guessing, and some things were said, she got upset, the person knows everything about us, and I think it's actually deeper than that too. Piper, I think that this person really did something to her in the time she was there." Prue replies, still facing the direction that Phoebe ran off in, then turning to face Piper.
"You don't mean?" Piper asks, putting her hand up to her mouth. Prue just nods her head and then says, "God only knows where she's headed to right now. I would just let her get in a good run, and we'll see if she feels like talking when she gets back."
Prue and Piper were already gone from the manor on some small errands they had to run when Phoebe returned from her run. She gets up to the door and sees that there are some things sitting outside for her. She just takes them in and doesn't even look at the cards or tags on them, but instead, goes to run some bath water to relax for awhile.
"These things are probably for Prue and Piper. Usually are." Phoebe says to herself while digging through her closet for her CD player. She finally finds it, then starts looking for some music.
"Hey, hell yeah. The Cranberries. Now, this would work but, if I remember correctly, Prue has a mixture CD around here somewhere that has The Cranberries, Fastball, Barenaked Ladies, The Corrs, she's got em all on there. I think I borrowed it my first night back home. Da da da da, let me see. Here it is." Phoebe says, talking to herself again, and being silly while looking for Prue's CD. She gathers up everything then heads into the bathroom. Once she gets her music sat up and ready to go, she's about ten minutes into relaxing when the phone rings.
"Good thing I brought the cordless in here with me. Hello." She answers after talking to herself again.
"Did you get my packages my dear? You know, I'm here in town for a few days, and I would really like to get back with you. I know it may seem like I'm stalking you, and I'm not trying to. I swear to you Phoebe. When we were together, we were happy. You know we were. I should have never treated you like that. Do you forgive me?" The man tells her.
"You did more than just talk to me badly. You hit me. Not only once, but several times. When Piper called me to come back home, I knew that was my way out of an abusive relationship." Phoebe replies, and it seems like it hurts him.
"Abusive? Oh honey, please don't be like this. I've gotten help, I've been to counseling for this since you've left. I can't promise you that I'll change in one day, but I'm slowly making progress. Won't you meet me at the diner by the third street bridge?" The man begs and pleads with her.
"Quake? Cause, there's others over there, you would have to be more distinctive on what you mean. Brandon, if my sisters find out about this, I'm in serious trouble." Phoebe tells him.
"That won't happen. I promise. We just need to reconnect. You will be really impressed with the way I've changed. Sorry if I put anybody on edge earlier with the way I called and what all I said. What I meant by everything was, I wanted to make sure you were okay when you left, and I did have someone keeping an eye on you for me. It would really hurt me if anything happened to you." Brandon says, pulling Phoebe deeper and deeper into his lies. She finally agrees to meet with him, knowing in her heart that Prue and Piper would hit the roof.
The next morning, Phoebe finally gets downstairs, and she's a little more talkative than she had been.
"Something smells good down here. What are you fixing?" Phoebe asks Prue, while pouring some coffee.
"You're talking to me. This is good. I just thought that since Piper had that interview today and I've got a huge meeting at Buckland's, I'd come down and fix a big breakfast. Over here we have pancakes, over here, sausage, then over here, scrambled eggs, and of course, I had to fix some bacon. I'm about to pull the hashbrown patties out of the oven in about two minutes. Sit down, eat up." Prue tells her.
"I believe I will. You sure went to a lot of trouble for us today." Phoebe replies, and normally she would have just ate veggies, but today, she fills her plate up with a bit of everything.
"Hungry honey?" Piper asks, coming into the kitchen.
"Yeah. I went out for a late dinner with a friend last night, and I just couldn't eat much. I came in and seen all of this, and the smell overtook me. Grab a plate and sit down." Phoebe tells her. They sit and talk and have that one good breakfast that Prue and Piper were hoping they could have with Phoebe, but this is the first one since she's been back.
"What are you doing today?" Piper asks Phoebe, who keeps reaching for the orange juice but she seems to be having trouble. She'll reach and then back off, and then try it again.
"Pheebes, are you okay?" Prue asks.
"I'm fine. I just slept wrong. My shoulder's stiff is all. I'll probably go out and job hunt today and see what I can find." Phoebe replies, and she finally manages to get the pitcher of orange juice. Prue looks at the newspaper and just sighs.
"What?" Piper asks, while getting a hold of a slightly over cooked piece of bacon.
"I'm just glad I don't work in real estate. The prices are so high I wouldn't make a living off of it. I gotta get going guys. Good luck with job hunting Phoebe. Piper good luck on your interview." Prue says, and she lays the paper down, and takes her plate to the sink where she already had dish water ran. Piper helps Phoebe clean up the kitchen and everything and then they go off their seperate ways. Phoebe heads out job hunting, with the secrets of what happened the night before, still hanging over her head, thinking she has no way out.
Chapter Three
The Truth Becomes Deadly
Four months go by with everything being somewhat normal when Phoebe and Piper are both finally working, and Prue experiencing more auctions than she can almost handle. Prue's in the middle of another meeting just after Rex and Hannah were vanquished, and they are trying to find ways of putting Buckland's back on the map so to speak. Piper's in the middle of the biggest lunch rush of her life since she started at Quake, and Phoebe's currently in the middle of cleaning up her area at her job. She took some online classes and is still in school, but she's working as a cashier at the same diner her Mom used to work at.
"Phoebe, go ahead and take your lunch break. Let's get them out of the way, and when you come back, I need you to roll some silverware for me okay." Her boss tells her.
"Sure thing. See ya in half an hour Brian." Phoebe replies, and she writes down what she's going to get for her lunch and goes ahead and rings it up, and takes her order to the back. She calls Piper to see how she is doing, and she gets a hold of Martin.
"Thank You for calling Quake. Will this be a to go order today?" Martin asks, while getting his ticket book.
"No sir. I was needing to talk to Piper if she's not too busy." Phoebe replies.
"Honey, we got hit about an hour ago, and it's not slowed down yet. I can have her call you when the lunch rush dies down. Can I take your name?" Martin says, and he writes down the message.
"Phoebe. I'm her sister. I was only checking to see how her day was going. Sorry to call during the rush." Phoebe tells him.
"Not a problem honey. That's what we're here. We are here for the customers. I'll tell her you called okay." Martin replies. Phoebe thanks him and goes ahead with her break and she calls Prue to talk for awhile.
"Hey Phoebe. Are you okay sweetie?" Prue asks her.
"I'm fine. I'm still not used to this job yet. We got slammed today and it just now slowed down enough to where I can take my break. I'm starving too." Phoebe tells her.
"What are you having for your lunch?" Prue asks.
"Just a club sandwich and some fries. What did you have today?" Phoebe replies, when she thinks she sees someone across the parking lot, staring her down.
"I haven't eaten yet. That meeting just now let out about thirty seconds before you called. I was on my way out the door to come over there and place a to go order. I should have just called it in. Would have saved me time." Prue replies.
"Yeah, but if you had done that, it's hard telling how long your food would have sat over here until you got out of the meeting." Phoebe tells her and Prue kind of laughs.
"Yeah. True enough there. Hey listen, I better let you get back to your lunch, and I'm gonna be over there in about ten minutes to get me something. I'll see you at home tonight okay." Prue says, and they end their conversation.
When Phoebe finally gets off from work, it's about 4:00 and instead of taking the bus home, she decides to walk instead since it's not that far. She sits down on a bench to take a break and get off of her feet for a few minutes and while she's retying her shoe, Brandon comes up to her.
"Hey, I want to show you something. You just get off of work?" He says, sitting next to her.
"Yeah, we got hit today there too. Piper did too at her job. Prue was in a meeting that took most of the day. This work thing is kind of hard to get used too when you haven't worked for a few months." Phoebe says, trying to give a smile.
"You had a good job in New York until you came back here." Brandon tells her.
"Let's not get into that again okay. What do you need to show me?" Phoebe replies, clearly stating in her voice that she's tired and just wants to go home. She walks with him for a couple of blocks, and then puts a blind fold on her.
"What are you doing?" She asks him.
"It's a surprise." Brandon replies. He then walks her into an ally where he has a bunch of his friends jumping her, and beating her nearly to death, while she pleads with them all to stop, and tries to get Brandon to help her.
"I told you that you wasn't going to win in this thing didn't I? Now lay here and take what you and I both know you want." Brandon tells her, while he rapes her, then continues to punch her all over her body, leaving her broken down, with several broken bones, and cuts all over her from head to toe. Neither Prue, or Piper, had ever gotten home yet.
"Hey Prue, before you go tonight, I need to speak with you for a second please." Claire tells her.
"Yeah, okay. I'm coming. Sorry, I'm so tired. I'll tell you what, these meetings are killing me." Prue replies, getting up to stretch. Her phone starts ringing and she looks at it, but tells Claire she will take care of it in a little bit.
"So you know that since Rex and Hannah left, there's a lot to clean up around here. How would you like to have a promotion?" Claire asks her.
"Excuse me? A promotion? Claire, I've been here the longest, I need this promotion." Prue tells her.
"Well, you've got it. I took a look at the computer and you are always the first one here, and the last one to leave of a night. You're the best worker we have. Next to a promotion is my job, and I just got here. So, congratulations, go home and celebrate with your sisters. Here. Let me give you this." Claire says, and she pulls out a $100.00 bill out of her purse.
"What's this for?" Prue asks.
"This is my gift to you for working as hard as you do around here. You take this and take you and your sisters out to dinner tonight somewhere, wherever you want to go, on me. My treat." Claire replies, and Prue hugs her and says, "Thank You Claire." She then goes to check her phone and when she calls Piper back, she gets the kind of call she never wanted to get.
"Prue, what's the matter? Is everything okay?" Claire asks, nearly being knocked down by her running full speed to the elevators, then not wanting to waste any time with them, so she hits the stairs instead.
"No. Piper was trying to get a hold of me to tell me that Phoebe's been rushed to the hospital. She's been being stalked by someone she knew in New York, and he and a bunch of his friends jumped her tonight and beat her nearly to death. He raped her, and then beat her some more after they all beat on her. It happened just blocks away from the manor and the neighbors said that there was nothing but a trail of blood all the way from where they left her, leading to the back of the ambulance when they loaded her in." Prue explains.
"Oh my God no. I hate to hear that. You tell her I hope she gets better, and she's in my prayers, as you all are. Good luck Prue." Claire replies. Prue thanks her and gets down to her car to take off for the hospital. Phoebe had been keeping it a secret that Brandon has beat on her before and not just physically, but verbally, mentally, and emotionally. From the time that Phoebe got to New York and met Brandon, they moved too fast in their relationship and her being vulnerable from all the trouble she'd been in, and losing Grams, he saw the perfect opportunity to take advantage, and he did in more ways than one.
When Prue gets to the hospital, she finds Phoebe's room and sees Piper just sitting there by her bed, and she can't even cry.
"Piper?" Prue says, standing next to her.
"She never said anything to us. We didn't know. Why couldn't we see the signs Prue?" Piper says, not even turning away from Phoebe, who's on oxygen and a breathing tube.
"What's her status? What all did the doctor say?" Prue asks.
"She just got out of surgery about an hour ago, and she's been back from recovery maybe ten minutes. They just called me while she was in surgery, and then I called you. She has three broken ribs, a skull fracture, her right lung collapsed and she went into pnuemonia as well. She has cuts all over her arms and legs. They've had to give her some blood already. They don't see her to make it through tonight. They've done all they can for now. The rest is up to her." Piper replies, while still gripping the railing of Phoebe's bed because she's so mad.
"Where are you going?" Prue asks, when Piper jumps up and storms out of the room. She follows her into the parking lot and gets Piper to talk to her finally.
"I'm going back to the manor and I'm going to make that son of a bitch Brandon pay for what he's done to our sister. The other guys too once the police find out who all was involved and where they are hiding. If I have to use magic to do it, then so be it." Piper snaps, but only because she's mad.
"Piper honey listen to me. I want revenge too. Darryl has them all in custody. The neighbors all made positive police sketches and with their statements, those guys are going away for a long time. We can't use magic for personal gain. You know about the consequences that comes with that." Prue says, trying to be the level headed one like usual.
"Prue, this is something I wouldn't usually say and God, Mom, and Grams forgive me for saying it but, fuck the consequences! I'm not going to stand by and let our sister die for something that she had no control over. She doesn't deserve any of this, and right now, she's up there fighting to hold on to what little bit of life she has, if any at all, left in her. I'm scared Prue, I'm so scared seeing her like that. She's never looked so tiny and frail and far away than what she does right now." Piper says, yelling at first, but then calming down a little bit to try and talk like a civilized human being. They take a minute to have a good cry together, and talk for a minute or two then they go back in to stay with her when the doctor stops them in the hallway.
"I've been looking everywhere for you guys. This should be one of those doctor patient confidentiality things but, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you guys this. The two of you were going to be Aunts. She was pregnant when she got attacked tonight." The doctor tells them.
"Do what?! She was pregnant? Do you think she even knew?" Prue asks him.
"Probably not. She was maybe only three weeks along. You say she's been back here in San Francisco for how long now?" The doctor replies, going over Phoebe's files.
"No more than two weeks. That would mean that she and Brandon concieved a week before she left to come back here so no one would have known this early. Was it the trauma she went through tonight?" Piper says, also taking a look at the files.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. I hated to be the one to have to tell you this like I said, but for now, the most important thing is for the both of you to just be patient with her, and help her through all of this the best you can. Hang on a second." Doctor Thompson tells them, while answering his phone. He tells them he has a critical situation in the ER and that he'll come by and check on Phoebe in the morning.
Chapter Four
Crossing Over?
By the time morning comes around, Phoebe still hasn't made any changes or progress and while Prue and Piper are in the cafeteria having some coffee and trying to eat a little breakfast, they still try to maintain a sence of humor.
"This ain't bad." Prue says, while watching the gravy just slide off her fork and run all over her plate.
"Oh be real would ya? Both mine, and your cooking tops this slop. I mean, what it this? The menu said sausage, and biscuits and gravy, but this looks like something that they scraped off of the operating room floor." Piper tells her, and they both laugh for the first time since Phoebe was attacked.
"No doubt. Maybe we ought to open a cafe or diner of our own. We could do better than this." Prue replies, and it makes Piper choke on her coffee.
"What a good idea there Chef Prue." Piper says, and she holds up her coffee for a toast.
"Why Thank You Chef Piper. Hey, let's dump this and go get some real food." Prue tells her, and they take their plates to the trash cans and head up to see Phoebe first. When they get up to the floor where Phoebe's room is, they see everyone running into her room and the doors of every entrance are being closed off.
"What the hell's going on up here?" Prue asks one of the doctors.
"Who are you?" The doctor asks her.
"We're her sisters and I asked you first. I said what the hell's going on up here? She was stable last night and just fine." Prue tells him and he lets them know that her rate is dropping, and she's stopped breathing.
"What are you saying?" Piper asks, starting to worry.
"Doctor there's no response. I think we've lost her." A nurse hollers out into the hall and both Prue and Piper lose it.
"Hello? Can anyone tell me where I am at? There's a lot of smog around here, and I can't see two feet in front of me." Phoebe calls through the shadows, hoping someone will come to her.
"Phoebe. I was hoping you wouldn't have to come up here." Leo tells her, while walking up to her.
"Who are you?" Phoebe asks him.
"You don't remember me do you? I'm Leo. You might remember me as the handyman around the manor. I'm also your guide, and your sisters's guide too. Take my hand, there's not much time." Leo explains to her.
"I don't understand Leo. How are you here? Where is here? What's going on? Am I dead?" Phoebe asks.
"Shh, honey. One question at a time. You're not dead completely yet. I know you didn't see someone dressed all in black that brought you here. You came here on your own. I'm not only a handyman, I'm a whitelighter. I'm a healer, or an angel. I can take you back but you have to take my hand before they call the time of death. It's not too late yet, please, take my hand. Your sisters need you." Leo tells her. Finally, she reaches out with both hands, and when he takes his hands in hers, the both of them start glowing, and then she leaves.
"Time of death is," The nurse is in the middle of saying when Phoebe takes in a deep breath and says, "Where am I?!"
"Oh Praise God, we got her back. Phoebe honey, can you tell us how you feel?" The nurse asks.
"Confused. Happy to be alive. Get my sisters, please." Phoebe replies, and she puts her hands up to cover her eyes, and says, "Leo. We never knew."
"What happened? Is she really gone?" Piper asks the doctor.
"It's a miracle is all I can say. She was gone, she really was. The nurse was calling the time of death and she took in a deep breath and asked us where she was. You better come in and see her. She's awake, but I don't for how long. She's been through quite a lot in probably the past few months, and neither of you ever knew." The doctor tells them.
"Thank You. For everything you have done for her, we greatly appreciate it." Prue says, shaking his hand. They go in and see her and the first thing Phoebe does when she sees them is sit up on her bed and start crying, and say over and over how sorry she is for never saying anything about the way she was treated.
"I should have, I really should have said something before this got so far. I can't believe I've been so stupid. I thought that, I could handle it on my own." Phoebe tells them while trying to keep a straight face, but it doesn't work. She ends up crying again almost with every word.
"Honey why would you think that you couldn't talk to us about someone hitting you or stalking you for that matter? Have we been that terrible to live with?" Prue replies, while trying to get her to stop crying.
"No, you two have been wonderful. The thing of it is, I just left on bad terms. I was not a very nice person when I left, I was always screwing up and in trouble, then when Grams died, that was the final nail in the coffin for me. I just gave up then ya know? When I met Brandon that day at the bus depot, he must have been looking for someone who was vulnerable and stupid enough to go for whatever lies he was willing to tell. I want to go home." Phoebe says, and she's almost done crying by this point.
"Sweetie that won't be for awhile. In the meantime, you just rest up and we'll take care of everything okay. What did you mean when you said, Leo. We never knew. What was that?" Piper tells her, and then Phoebe smiles and Piper knows that she knows something about the handyman.
"He's an angel Piper. He met me up there and said that since I didn't meet a man all in black was because I wasn't fully gone." Phoebe starts to explain.
"Pheebes that doesn't make any sence. You flat lined and stopped breathing. They were ready to call time of death on you." Prue says, and she finally sits down.
"That's just it Prue. They hadn't called it yet. Leo said that I needed to take his hand because you both needed me. He said that if I didn't take a hold of his hand right when he told me to, I would be gone and the man in black would come and get me. No sooner than I put both my hands in his, we started glowing, or more or less he glowed and it hit me. He sent me back here. Piper, I know that Dan seems like he really likes you. Leo's the one for you. You both are magical. You need to be with him." Phoebe tells her, and when she smiles and nods her head, Piper and Prue both, know that she's not just talking to hear the sound of her voice and that she's serious.
"Prue. You stay here with her and watch her closely. I'll be right back. I need to make a phone call." Piper says, and she steps out to go down the hall.
"Hello?" Leo says, answering the phone at the manor.
"Thank You for giving our sister back to us. You saved her life Leo. There are no words to say how much we appreciate what you've done for her." Piper replies, and even though he's not supposed to feel anything, it touches his heart.
Chapter Five
The Acedemy
It's been seven years since Phoebe was nearly beaten to death by Brandon and his friends, and in that time frame, she's had to heal and recover both physically and emotionally. She always says she's doing much better, which she is, but her soul's been forever scarred by their actions. Piper is now married to Leo and they have Wyatt and Chris, Prue is actually married to Andy and they have a girl named Summer, and Phoebe was able to put her past demons behind her and move on. She even is married to Cole now, and they have a little girl who is the center of Phoebe's world. She named her Melinda, after the one that started their family line. Her name is Melinda Warren Halliwell Turner. Melinda and Summer being the only girls, they do everything together including little league softball. Phoebe's in the middle of a self healing meditation ritual when Prue comes in to talk to her. She sees that she's tied up at the moment and decides to wait a minute.
"Okay. I'm done. Whatcha need hon?" Phoebe asks her.
"I was going to wish you good luck today and try one more time to talk you out of this." Prue tells her.
"Prue. I normally wouldn't try to join the force with Darryl but, seeing what all I've been through, I feel in my heart that I gotta do this. I feel really strongly about it too. I looked into the acedemy and they are really interested in me. I told them about my strength training, and all the field training I've had, and martial arts classes to where I've worked up to a black belt now. They said talk to the force here in town and go from there. I've got a shot Prue, please don't talk me out of it." Phoebe replies. Prue nods her head and says, "I'll stand by ya. You know I will."
A week later, Phoebe's packing for the acedemy and she keeps checking over her list to make sure she doesn't take with her what's not needed or allowed. She checks things off of the list then double checks, triple checks, checks one more time, goes back and forth to her closet, then back over to her list.
"Mommy, would you stop? You've got what you need. I see one thing on the list though, that you've not yet put in here." Melinda tells her. Phoebe checks the list and sees that she forgot some of her bathroom stuff.
"If you noticed that then, I don't have all I need do I?" Phoebe says, and she attacks Melinda by tickling her.
"I was trying to make it to where you had to come back if you forgot something. I'm gonna miss you. Be safe Mommy." Melinda replies, and she helps get things ready for her.
"Oh honey, come here. Come sit on my lap for a minute. I may not be able to come and visit until I get done, but your Aunts are more than welcome on visiting days to bring you there to see me. Nothing's going to happen to me, I hope you know that. Mommy's going to be making a difference so that the things that happened to her, never happen to anyone else. Hey, before we both start crying. I'm heading out in the morning. Go down and let your Daddy know that today, you and I are spending the day together. I'm taking you to lunch and we're going to go do a little shopping okay. This time, now listen. This time, you get to pick out any toy you want, and don't let the other kids try to run off with it. It's going to be yours okay. Go tell him." Phoebe explains, and when Melinda hops off of her lap, Phoebe taps her on the butt to give her an added boost so she'll get a move on. She goes back to packing and then Piper comes to talk to her.
"Look at you. Pheebes, you've came a long way. From a troubled teen, to being beaten nearly to death, over 150 hours of training in total, now you're leaving for two months to train at a police acedemy. I've never been prouder of you." Piper tells her.
"Thanks Piper. Coming from you or even Prue for that matter if she'd said it, that means a lot." Phoebe replies.
"I mean it. Oh God. Boys! Knock it off. I'll be back. Let me know if you need anything okay." Piper says, having to switch gears from supporting her sister to going and breaking up a fight.
The next afternoon, Phoebe's looking all around the acedemy grounds trying to figure out where she needs to go to register when an officer walks up to her.
"You lost girly?" The man asks her.
"I don't take to kindly to being called girly. The name's Phoebe, and yes. I have no idea where to go to register. Sir." Phoebe replies. The man kind of looks at her really stern at first, but then takes his hat and sunglasses off and smiles. He shakes her hand and says, "You've got spunk kid. You'll need it here. To register, just go through those double door over there, go down the hall about twenty feet, turn right, first door on your left. Think you can find it?" The man tells her.
"I'm sure I can manage. Thank You officer, uh let's see what does your badge say? Oh yes, of course. Officer Stone." Phoebe says, and she shakes his hand once again and makes her way down to registration. She's thinking in the back of her mind, "This place looks like a damn military base or something." Once she gets registered, she's in the barracks with the other women, and she sits a picture of Melinda by her bed, makes her bed, and sets her trunk and suitcase at the foot of if, then lays back on it, waiting for everyone else to show up.
"We're gonna rock this place. I wonder what the hell they have in store for us the first day." A lady named Gina Corbin says to a friend of hers as they walk in and see Phoebe, and they get settled in as well.
"Hey. How are you? Looks like we'll be training together." Gina tells her and she extends her hand to Phoebe.
"I'm doing good, and yourself? My name's Phoebe." She replies and they get aquainted.
"Alright ladies listen up! We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other later on. For now, fall in. Line up. Don't make me wait." Their drill sergent hollers after blowing that whistle. She has them marching out and gives them assignments as to what they are to do for the whole time they are there.
"Now, each of you are here training for the police force correct?!" The drill sergent hollers. They all just nod their heads.
"I said, each of you are here training for the police force correct?!" She yells again.
"Maam yes maam!" They all call back to her.
"Into formation. This first task is to see how you handle yourself in the field. I've got an army of guys around that building over there and they are going to come out here and attack each and every one of you. What you ladies are to do, is work together as a unit. This is not a walk in the park. When things get tough and you are under seige, you never leave a man or woman behind, and you always have your partner's back. See how this goes and tomorrow, the real fun begins." The woman tells them.
"This will be fun. I'm ready." Phoebe whispers to Gina.
"No talking. Just for that, drop and give me twenty. Count em out!" Drill Sergent Jada Wilson yells.
"Maam yes maam!" Phoebe hollers back.
"Don't watch what she's doing. She'll join you later on. Move it go go go, fall out." Jada hollers when they tried to stay with Phoebe. While Phoebe's doing her pushups, Jada gets down there by her and tells her, "Turner. I know why you're here. You've been through hell and came out alive. I salute you for being here to make a difference. I have to be tough on you while you're here, do not, break on me. Do you hear me? Don't break on me Turner, keep it up. Can you do this yes or no?"
"Yes I can Drill Sergent Wilson. I ain't breaking, and I ain't quitting either. No one is going to stop me from doing this." Phoebe replies, and Jada lightly taps her on the top of her head once she stands back up and tells her, "I didn't think so. Go join your team." Phoebe gets over with her unit and when she sees one of the guys going after a couple of them, she jumps on him knocking him to the ground, and when they both come back up, they spar until the guy gets Phoebe in a head lock to which she just takes her thumb up under his chin and gets him off of her.
"Hey hey hey, that's enough. Way to go for the first day ladies." The officer tells them all, and the recruits are allowed some free time. Phoebe goes to call home and see how everyone is doing. No one was home so she figured that the kids have been taken to the park or something by one of the adults while the rest of them are at work. She lays down for a few minutes, and then decides to go for a walk around the acedemy.
A month into the training, the officers tell the trainees that the men will be doing hand to hand combat with the male officers, and the ladies will get the female officers. Phoebe just crosses her fingers by her sides and keeps saying in her mind, "Please please please, let me get Officer Wilson. Please, let me get her."
"Corbin! You're with Officer Hampton. Fall out!" Jada calls out to her and Gina goes with Tracie J. Hampton, one of the toughest ones at the acedemy to go up against in hand to hand combat.
"Jameson! You've got Officer Micheals. Move it!" Jada calls to her and she follows the officer. Jada goes down the list until she gets to Phoebe last.
"Turner! You're with me. Let's go, move out." Jada tells her and she just cries out with her fists in the air, "Yes!" Gina and the other women in Phoebe's barricks, all turn around to see her excited until their commanding officers holler, "Eyes front cadets! Keep moving."
"You think this is going to be an easy task don't you Turner?" Jada tells her, and Phoebe nods her head, so sure of herself.
"Oh, I'm ready for ya cupcake. Let's dance." Phoebe replies and the hand to hand training begins. No one figured that Phoebe was at tough as she proves herself to be and when everyone else is done, her and Jada are still competing.
"Turner? Haven't you had enough yet?" Jada asks her.
"Never. I don't quit without finishing what I start." Phoebe says, while she drop kicks her. Jada gets back up, and the battle continues. One of the Drill Sergents even starts passing out bottled water to all of the trainees while they sit there and watch, and even they can't recall the last trainee to keep fighting even though she blood all over her face from her nose.
"Hey Thanks Sir." Karlene Jameson tells the one that handed her the last cold water.
"You've all done well but, I've never seen anyone with the drive that woman has. Hey, come on. Turner! You've proven yourself enough for today. Tomorrow, the obstacle course. This course will include the wall that you will have to get over in record time, crawl under barbed wire, without getting cut and if you do, oh well. No one in the field is going to take it easy on you if you get cut up." The main officer tells them all.
"Yeah just look at Officer Stone and Cadet Turner at how they've done each other today." Another lady named Tina Jakes, blurts out and she hears, "That's ten for talking when the commanding officer is talking. Count em out!"
"Sorry Sir. Sir yes Sir." Tina replies, and she puts the lid on her water and starts doing her pushups. Phoebe is just about to die of thirst when Jada whispers, "Pst. Hey, Turner." and she tosses her a water bottle. Phoebe holds it up to her as to say, "Here's to one hell of an officer." She mouths the words "Thank You." She's still standing there when they let her go sit down, to which she just falls on her back. Gina reaches over and pats her on her knee and Karlene places her hand on her shoulder.
Chapter Six
Graduation Day
When the day comes that everyone is graduating from the acedemy, they have one last thing they have to do. They have to pass the firearm test.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen. You've all shown how well you can handle yourselves in the field. Now let's see if you guys can handle firearms as well as you can fight." The officer tells them.
"Oh wow Piper, look at her. She's really looking good. Her muscle tone is so much better than it was when she was training with me. They've really done good with her." Cole says, while watching everyone else too. They all have been paired up in groups of three and they have to go through field testing with shooting in a stake out. There's different pop up people that come along, and they gotta pick which ones pose a threat and which ones are citizens they've got to protect.
"She's not missing any of them. She's serious out there." Prue tells them, and she just can't believe how much Phoebe's progressed since she's been there. The shooting goes on for awhile and when it's over with, they get their scores.
"I'm pleased to say that you all have passed this course. Remember that out there in the actual field, there's not going to be pop up people, they're going to be for real. If you handle yourselves as well out there, as you all have here, you'll do just fine. If not, your families will get word of you falling in the line of duty and the outcome's not one you want to think about, but it's what comes with the territory." The officer announces to them.
"That's harsh." Summer says, while trying to get her ears to stop ringing. Prue whispers to her saying that they are only being up front and tough with them like that because it is the truth.
"Where's Dad? I thought he had to be here today for this." Summer asks, and she still can't see him.
"He's down there by the other officers. He's been through this. Look, there's Darryl next to him." Prue tells her. Everyone goes back into the barricks to change out of their green uniforms and into their white ones for the graduation process and it gives all of the family a chance to mix and mingle.
"You've got to be Melinda. Your Mom's told me a lot about you." Jada says, shaking her hand.
"She's told us about you too." Melinda tells her.
"I can only imagine the things she has said. Your sister ladies, has shown more determination than I've ever seen anyone here have before. She's going to be the one that gets the job done. I gotta go get ready to hand out the certificates." Jada replies.
An hour later, the field's been redone to show chairs where all the graduates will be seated, and when they come marching out, everyone starts applauding them.
"Present arms! Left shoulder. Right shoulder arms! Left face arms! Right face arms! About face, forward march! Hup two three four, hup two three four. Who are we!?" Drill Sergent Jada Wilson hollers out to them.
"Maam, we are a unit team maam!" They all call back to her.
"What can we do?!" Jada calls again.
"Anything we put our minds too maam!" The all answer and both Prue and Piper are wiping some tears away.
"At ease! Sit!" Jada announces and they all take their assigned seats. The first row goes first, then so on and so forth.
"I usually have to go in regulation with these things but, never in the years I've been here, have I ever, seen cadets put forth as much effort as all of you have. You young men and women came in here two months ago and I have to admit, some of you were no quick studies. You gave it your all and you proved me wrong because there were times when we thought some of you or most of you would quit. You stuck it out, you hung in there, you never once gave up, or walked out of here, and I'm proud to say that everyone is now, going to be walking up here and getting their certificates. I'm proud to have known you all." Jada tells them. The main officer comes up, salutes Jada, and shakes her hand, as well as her returning his salute and hand shake.
"There's twenty names to go through so I know it's hot out here today and I hope no one drops from the heat. We had such a small group this year, so it won't take as long this time. If you guys can indulge us this much, we'll try to get through this as fast as we can. Come up one by one as I call your name and when you get back to your seat, wait until everyone gets back in your row to sit down. Micheal Anders. Jessica Allbright. Stacey Bennett. Carl Bentley. Charles Benson. That's all of row one. Come up in that order ladies and gentlemen." The officer tells them and they go up to get their certificates and then march off of the podium.
"In row two we have Gina Corbin. Cynthia Dickey. Madison Evans. Harriet Frickey. David Harrison. That's the end of row two. Come on up." The officer says for that bunch.
"In row three we have Angela Ingram. Theresa Jackson. Karlene Jameson. Tina Jakes. Travis Mathews. Come up here please." The officer says for row three and Phoebe starts to get an over whelming sence of pride but she's nervous too. She's thinking to herself, "Grams. You once said that I was going to be hard to handle. I'm so sorry for the hell I've caused this family. I made it though. I'm here, and I'm gonna fly." She then hears, "For the last and final row of the day, we have Abigail Norris. Jacob Quinn. Bradley Ryan. Phoebe Turner. Janie Walker. Come up here please." The officer says for the last row and when Phoebe walks up to get her certificate, she hears Melinda cry out in pride for her, "Mommy! That's my Mommy!" and she had her hands cupped around her mouth. Phoebe tried to keep from smiling and laughing but she couldn't help it. When they all sit back down together, Jada gets back up to the podium to talk.
"Congratulations to you all! May each and every one of you, make the best police officers that you could possibly be." Jada says, saluting them all and they stand up and return the salute to her, then she says, "You're all dismissed!" Jada tells them all and they head back into the barricks to get packed up and ready to go home, where Melinda, Summer, Wyatt, and Chris, meet everyone that shared a room with Phoebe.
"I bet you're ready to go home and get some sleep huh?" Cole asks, putting his arm around her and pulling her into a kiss.
"I know what you're wanting Cole Benjamin, and I'm going home, gonna go change my clothes, and go for a swim at the pond. It's only just 1000 degrees out there today." Phoebe replies. Everyone tells their goodbyes and exchanges addresses and numbers to keep in contact, and then they all part and go their seperate ways, not even realizing that Brandon is now out on parole. He was supposed to do 18 years but appealed it and got it reduced, then got released early for good behaviour.
Chapter Seven
A Ghost From The Past
Phoebe has now been on the force for at least three months and making excellent progress when Prue calls her to let her know that she needs to be careful.
"What are you talking about? Is everything okay?" Phoebe asks while she's taking a small break one afternoon.
"Brandon's out on parole. I know that he's done his time but I still don't trust him. A lot of them say they are reformed, but who knows really?" Prue tells her. Phoebe assures her that she will look into how he got out so quick and what he did to be able to get out as soon as he did, and once again, Prue tells her to just be careful. Phoebe promises that she will be careful and keep an eye out, not even giving it another thought that Brandon could be in the area again. Phoebe gets back to work and when her boss tells her that her and Darryl are to team up and go on a drug bust, she's more than eager to do so.
"You're too happy about this job honey. You gotta slow down a little bit. You're doing great though." Darryl tells her.
"Well it's like I told Prue when she tried to talk me out of it, I really want to make a difference and help ensure that what happened to me, does not happen to anyone else. I know there's a lot of officers here in the department but, this is a personal thing. I have to do this in order to really fully be able to move on from what was done to me. Oh, oh. Darryl, look. He's right over there by those dumpsters." Phoebe replies when she spots the man they're after trying to take down his operation. She asks if they should move yet and he tells her to just hang on for a minute or two to see what he's doing. Then she starts up with her gum again for the fifth time that day.
"Give it here." Darryl says.
"What?" Phoebe asks, looking out the window, not even looking his direction to see his hand there by her mouth.
"The gum Phoebe. Give me the gum. I told you the last three times you popped it that one more and it was gone. Give it here." Darryl replies, while wiggling his fingers and she spits it out in his hand like she was told.
"Thank You. Call it in and tell them we'll probably need backup. I see some more cars over there by that fence. See em?" Darryl tells her as he puts her gum in a grocery bag that he used for trash in the squad car.
"Mm hmm, I do. Looks like there's at least three or more. Alright, I'm on it. This is Officer Phoebe Turner. We're at the corner of 9th and Jackson. Need backup, we may have our guy who's over the drug operation." Phoebe says, while getting on the radio.
"Roger that Officer Turner. Backup's coming your way. You two just hang tight and do not go after him. I repeat, do not go after him until help arrives." The dispatch responds.
"10 4 dispatch. Okay, they're coming. Did I tell you that Melinda is wanting to learn how to ride a horse?" Phoebe replies, then talks to Darryl for a bit.
"What? Really? She's only six. She's a little young and small for that right?" Darryl tells her.
"Yeah. That's what her Dad and I said too. God she was pissed. She didn't talk to us the rest of the night last week when we told her to wait a couple of years." Phoebe says, when their help finally shows up. Darryl and Phoebe signal to their help who's going to go where, and then they all go in and start jumping people who seem to just want to fight with them or run off. One of the drug dealers pulls a gun on Darryl and Phoebe hollers "Morris hit the floor!" While she was hollering for him to get down, she took a shot at the man and it killed him instantly.
"Thanks. Are you okay?" Darryl asks her.
"Yeah. You?" Phoebe replies, and she has a funny look on her face, and looks as if she could cry.
"First time?" Darryl asks. Phoebe nods her head yes and Darryl pats her shoulder and gives her a minute while he and the others get everyone out and in squad cars.
Phoebe gets back home to the manor that night and she can already hear everyone buzzing with excitement over the meal that Piper and Prue had fixed. She puts the events of her day aside and does her best to smile at the sound of kids. She walks through the door and she hears Prue say, "Melinda. Sounds like your Mommy's home."
"Mommy! You are really home!" Melinda cries out, running to her and Phoebe picks her up and holds onto her for a minute just hugging her. She sits Melinda down and they go in the dining room to eat when Darryl calls Phoebe on her phone.
"Please don't tell me we have to go out on another bust." Phoebe says, answering her phone.
"No, nothing like that. I was just calling to see if you were okay. That was a justified shot today. You were doing that in defense for your partner, and for yourself. He had a gun. Don't beat yourself up over this okay." Darryl tells her.
"I know it was. I just felt bad and still do cause it's like you said, that was my first time, that it wasn't a demon." Phoebe replies, and Piper lays her fork down and just sighs. She already has an idea of what happened to Phoebe at work. They talk for a couple seconds then Phoebe gets her something to eat. She goes into the kitchen and fixes herself a plate when Piper comes in behind her to ask her if she wants to talk.
"Sweetie, you okay?" Piper asks.
"Today was my first one that I had to shoot and he died Piper. He pulled a gun on Darryl and was going to kill him. I had to take the shot, but I didn't mean to kill him." Phoebe replies. Piper goes over to her, takes her plate in her hand, sits it down on the counter, then hugs Phoebe and rubs her back.
"I can't say it's going to get easier with each one cause I don't know. I can't begin to imagine. Just know that if Darryl tells you that it was justified shot, it was." Piper says, and Phoebe pulls away, thanks her, and they go back into the dining room.
The next evening, Phoebe is returning from yet another shift and she is met by Brandon outside the manor.
"Hey. Can we talk? I've been reformed and gotten out of prison." Brandon tells her.
"Good for you. You're square with the house again but not with me. You need to leave Brandon, now would be a good time to do so." Phoebe replies, and she tries to get past him.
"Ya know it's too bad that you won't talk to me about this. That little girl of yours would look cute on the back of a milk carton one of these days if you cross me." Brandon says, and Phoebe turns around, in full uniform still, to look him in the face.
"You even touch her and I'll kill you." Phoebe snaps at him.
"You don't have it in you. I know she's not mine by blood but you know something peaches? I told you that you belong to me. She's a part of you, so she is mine too." Brandon snaps back. Phoebe lunges at him and tries to choke him and he grabs her and does a reversal move on her where he has her pinned up against the side of the house.
"Are you forgetting that I spent time in prison? I know the same moves you know Phoebe Jayne. Go ahead, throw something at me that I haven't seen before. You've been warned." Brandon says, as he lets her go, but not before he causes her to hit the sidewalk. He walks away and leaves her sitting there outside the house and when Prue comes home about five minutes later, Phoebe's still on the sidewalk.
Chapter Eight
Not A Moment Too Soon
Everyone is in the living room talking to Phoebe about what happened, and when Cole comes home from work and finds out about it, he's steamed.
"Kids, go play." Cole tells them.
"Daddy, I wanna make sure Mommy's okay." Melinda replies.
"Kids, go play now. Us adults need to talk. Do not go outside with this man running around out there somewhere. Just go up to one of your bedrooms, and play. Watch a movie, play a video game, I don't care, just go play. This is serious, go now." Cole tells them all again, and Phoebe has her hand on her forehead, leaning over on the couch like she's going to be sick.
"Ya know, I thought the worst part of all of this was when he did what he did to me. He just had to show up today and threaten me with Melinda. That's going too far." Phoebe tells everyone.
"I wanted to use magic to punish him when he attacked Phoebe, but Prue talked me out of it that night in the parking lot. Even now, Prue's right, magic is not the answer." Piper replies, and Leo gets a call.
"You aren't leaving now are you?" Andy asks him.
"I have to go check out one of my charges across town. She's just needing to ask me something I think. Wish people could just pick up a phone. I'll be right back." Leo says, as he disappears.
"Phoebe. I have an idea for you. It's something I would like to do with all of you women when us men aren't here of a day and one of you might be home by yourself." Andy tells her.
"What do you have in mind honey? Summer Dawn, go back upstairs like Uncle Cole told you to do please. This is grown up talk." Prue says, talking to Andy then to their daughter.
"I was thirsty Mommy and Daddy said no drinks upstairs." Summer replies, with a hurt look on her face.
"I'll go. Honey that wasn't your Daddy that said that. That was Aunt Piper that said that one because you kids could destroy a mansion within an hour or less. Come on. What do you want to drink?" Piper says, while getting up and taking care of Summer.
"Andy what do you have in mind? Self defense or something more avasive?" Cole asks him.
"I know basic hand to hand combat but I don't know what to do when someone has me pinned. That's Brandon's strong points in pinning poeple. When he does that, he's got them right where he wants them. Usually, I could handle my own with him but, he pinned me up against the house out here and, I couldn't break free." Phoebe explains. Once Piper gets Summer taken care of with her drink, she and her sisters go into the basement with Andy and Cole, and Leo gets back and starts looking for them.
"Hey, where are you guys?" Leo calls out.
"Down here honey. Andy and Cole are touching up with us on self defense and stuff." Piper replies. He joins them down there where he finds them all taking their shoes and socks off.
"Why did we just do that?" Prue asks him.
"Because I don't want to get hurt. You ladies are going to be kicking and blocking with your feet and legs, and punching and blocking with your hands and arms. That's why the shoes come off. The socks, well, it's cement down here. Smooth cement. Them socks will just make you slide everywhere. Now, Phoebe, you've been having the most trouble with Brandon so we'll work with you first. Who's sparring with her first?" Andy replies. Cole raises his hand and says, "I will."
"Oh no, Cole, no no no, I refuse to spar with you anymore. The last time we did, I hurt my ankle, it was swollen twice it's size, black and blue, and you still didn't let me sit down. Forget it." Phoebe says while raising her left foot behind her to scratch the top of it where a bug just bit her.
"Spar with me then. Come on. I wanna show you a couple of things. Come here." Andy tells her. While they are squaring off, Andy gets Phoebe down and sits on top of her.
"Okay. What I'm going to teach you is actually a move that's a mix between the martial arts and the military. Don't panic on me cause you know I'm not going to hurt you. You know that right?" Andy says so she'll calm down.
"Mm hmm." Phoebe kind of mumbles and then Andy puts his hands to her throat, and tells her, "Grab my wrists, twist your hips, swing your legs over my left shoulder, and from there, you're going to push me with your legs, flip me while holding onto my arm. This is going to prevent me from causing you any added harm." Andy says, breaking it down step by step.
"Ok. Yeah, I like this. This is a good one. Okay now what do I do?" Phoebe replies, and the others weren't prepared for how fast Phoebe caught onto what she was being taught.
"When you go to flip me, like I said, hang onto my arm while you have me pinned with your legs, and that will allow you to break my arm at the elbow. Just don't do it though. Okay. Ready?" Andy says, and when Phoebe tells him she's ready, he goes into attack mode and Phoebe strikes. She brings her legs up like she was told and when she goes to flip Andy and hold onto his arm, he starts hollering.
"Ouch Phoebe, hey you're hurting me." Andy tells her and Prue and Piper are trying to keep from laughing.
"Stop laughing cause you two are next in this. Andy, what's the term for this? I love it." Phoebe tells all of them.
"It's actually a form of karate known as Fingidsu." Andy says, and Prue tells her to let go.
"What did you say? I can't hear you Andy. Say that again." Phoebe replies, and she starts laughing.
"You heard me. Let me go. Now, who's next?" Andy says, and they all continue to work out in the basement for awhile and take turns going to check on the kids once in awhile.
Three days later while everyone is already getting settled into bed, Phoebe is just getting home from the station. Darryl drops her off outside since her car is not working at the moment, and he tells her that Andy will be getting through with his shift in another hour. She thanks him for all he's done and when she gets inside, she tries to turn the light on but it doesn't work. She knows that Wyatt, Chris, and Summer, were all at sleepovers, and the only kid in the house is Melinda. Cole and Leo had decided to go down to the river and catch up on guy things and do some fishing, and Piper and Prue, were at the manor with Melinda, keeping her for Phoebe until she got home. She tries the light again and when it still doesn't work, she then goes toward the living room where she hears someone grunting to get her attention. She gets out her flashlight and sees that it's Prue and Piper, tied up on the couch, with tape over their mouths. She takes the tape off from Prue and she hears the words, "Brandon. Upstairs. Hurry.
"Melinda!" Phoebe yells as she nearly flies upstairs to stop Brandon from doing whatever he had planned. She looking around with her gun drawn and ready to go when Brandon steps out from a doorway.
"You just didn't listen to me. Just couldn't leave well enough alone could ya?" Brandon tells her.
"That's a strange looking beat up piece of crap car." Darryl says thoughtfully, while still on Prescott.
"Brandon! Damn it, I hope I'm not too late." Darryl exclaims as he makes a U turn in the street and goes back to help her.
"Where's Melinda? Where's my baby? What have you done to her?" Phoebe demands, asking all kinds of questions.
"She's dead and you're about to join her. I told you not to cross me. You went and turned me in for just showing you that I was in charge of you." Brandon replies and they start to do hand to hand combat, and it's taking almost everything Phoebe has.
"You are not in charge of me." Phoebe tells him while the fight continues, and then he knocks her to the floor and climbs on top of her to choke her out, not knowing what all Andy and Cole showed the three of them just days before. Phoebe keeps it together and instead of losing focus, she just twists her hips, throws her legs over Brandon's shoulder, flips him, then grabs his arm, long enough to hold him there on the floor. She kicks him in the side of his head so she can get up and then she sees the knife, which was a new area for her.
"You've improved. I'm impressed Phoebe Jayne." Brandon says, coming at her with the knife. She never took her eyes off of it or where it was at and when he comes at her, she blocks him and causes him to stab himself instead of her. It kills him instantly and once Phoebe realizes what's just happened, she falls to her knees and starts crying. Piper and Prue worked on getting each other untied and they meet Darryl in the foyer. He told them to stay put, but that wasn't happening.
"My baby. He killed my baby, oh God, he killed my baby. Oh my God." Phoebe says over and over and then she hears Darryl's voice saying, "She's fine Pheebes. She was hiding in her room in the closet behind her toy box." He puts Melinda down where she goes over to her Mommy, and Melinda tells her, "Mommy, that mean man tried to hurt me."
"Good timing Darryl. I'm so glad it's over." Piper says, hugging both him and Prue.
"I'm so sorry for this baby. Mommy's so sorry. I'm so sorry honey. Are you okay sweetheart? My God, Mommy's so so sorry." Phoebe tells her while rocking her and they cry together.
The next morning, police and the undertaker are still at the manor, trying to piece together what all happened. Prue and Piper give their statements, and as the undertaker puts Brandon's body in the back, Cole and Leo are just getting back from fishing. They get inside and start making sure everyone's okay. Phoebe is still hanging onto Melinda and hasn't put her down since the night before.
"Come here baby. Come to Daddy. Are you and Mommy okay honey?" Cole asks, taking Melinda for a little bit.
"Daddy, you and Uncle Leo stink." Melinda tells him.
"She's fine obviously. I'm so sorry that we went fishing last night. We should have been here so this could be avoided." Leo tells Piper, and she shakes her head no and says, "It's okay honey. You men needed to get out and do something for yourselves. Phoebe and Darryl took care of it."
"I just seen his car and came back to help. Phoebe had already taken care of everything by the time I got here. Cole, I would like to give you some advise brother." Darryl says, and he laughs.
"What's that? I am listening." Cole replies.
"Don't piss this officer off. Phoebe. I'm proud to have you on the force. You've came a long way, and I'm proud of you. There's a police officer's ball coming up. I'm sure you know about it. It's for the officers and their families. I would like to take a moment to cordially invite you all there myself." Darryl explains.
"Thanks Darryl. Coming from you, when you thought I couldn't do it at first, that means a lot to me." Phoebe tells him, and she shakes his hand.
"You have no idea. He doesn't give invites or compliments much. I know, I've worked with him for eleven years." Andy says, making them all laugh. The kids all come back from their sleepovers and start asking questions. Piper and Prue explain to them what happened and Wyatt says, "Way to go Aunt Phoebe!" Summer goes up to Phoebe and hugs her and kisses her on the cheek, and when Phoebe picks her up, she finally opens her mouth to say more than two words to her.
"I love you Aunt Phoebe. I always have." Summer says, and it almost makes her cry.
"Okay everyone. Once they all get out of here, Darryl, pull up a chair and have some breakfast. Prue and I are fixing it again." Piper announces to everyone.
"Oh you gotta hang around Darryl. These two dominate in the kitchen. They are awesome cooks." Andy tells him.
"Yeah. I'll hang around for awhile. Thank You." Darryl replies and they get all four kids settled down long enough to eat. While they're sitting around the table just talking and enjoying each other's company, Cole gets to thinking that at this point in time, he could not be any more proud of his wife than what he is right now. He looks back on everything that she's been through, and then something inside tells him that she'll always make it through. Not because she's a Halliwell by blood, but because she's got the drive for greatness, and she never gives up.
THE END