Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed. I'm just playing around.

A/n: Greetings! For some of you, this is the long-awaited next installment of the "Alone, Eternally" series. If so, welcome back! For the rest of you unfamiliar with the other stories in this series, welcome. I hope you enjoy this.

Truthfully, I don't think it's necessary to read the rest of the stories in this series, although it will give you a good background on what is going on in this story. If you don't feel like reading those other stories right now, here is a brief recap:

In 2007, Cole forged a bond with Wyatt that he used to get Wyatt to bring him back to life. Cole went to Phoebe's apartment with every intention to get her back, but when he saw her with Coop and her new baby, Nora, he couldn't bring himself to disrupt her family life. He disappeared and fell into a depression that he overcame with some help from Prue (who promised him that one day Phoebe would come to him).

Many years later, Phoebe's daughters, Nora and Lena, discovered the truth about Cole. After Nora ran away from home, Lena told Phoebe the truth about Cole being alive.

Also, Coop died several years ago (a story I have not written yet, but plan to).

I really hope that everyone enjoys this story. I know that for some of you this one has been a long time coming. I know I've been waiting a long time to write it. I hope that it lives up to any expectations.

Thank you so much to those of you who have read and reviewed all of the stories so far. I'd appreciate any feedback you have on this story too.

Happy reading!

Katie

Setting: November 2025

Guide You Home

sequel to Waits for You

a story by Ryeloza

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

-Coldplay, "Fix You"

The house was across the street from a park. Not the sort of park with a lot of trees and paths for people who would want someplace nice to walk their dogs, but a child's playground. The place seemed pleasant enough; a very family-oriented neighborhood. The house itself was lovely; decently sized with a big bay window and wooden fence around the edge of the property. It was the sort of place Phoebe might have chosen to raise her girls, and the thought saddened her in a way. Somehow, it brought up the whole host of what-might-have-beens that had been in her mind in a frighteningly real way.

For the past two hours, Phoebe had been sitting on a bench at the edge of the park staring at the house across the street and trying to work up the nerve to go ring the doorbell. She had truly thought that once she made the decision to come here that the hardest part would be over. Little had she known that the mere sight of 906 Clearview Drive—how many times had she recited that address over the past four months?—would cause her anxiety to return tenfold. Looking at the house, knowing that Cole lived there, made the entire situation more real than had any other moment of the past four months.

Part of her thought that she shouldn't have come. Hers and Cole's past was so tumultuous that it almost seemed more logical to let it lie. But another part of her—the part that could never quite let go of Cole—had known that the moment she heard Lena tell her that Cole was alive, she'd eventually seek him out.

Street lights lit up, and Phoebe felt surprised by how dusk had fallen around her. People had begun to leave the park, going home to put their children to bed or to watch television or to talk or to read or to do whatever they did in their everyday lives. In a way, being here was like being in a dream, and that was really what she needed to wake from before she knocked on Cole's front door. The only way to face this was with a clear head; a head grounded in reality. Because the one true reality of this situation—the thing that really had kept her in the park for two hours—was that the minute she walked back into Cole's life, she'd be changing hers forever.

Did she really want to shake the foundation she had spent years cautiously building?

Phoebe shut her eyes and tried to reach a sense of calm. Unfortunately, the same scene that had been plaguing her for months immediately sprung into her mind.

You just don't get it, Cole, do you? I thought you were dead and I felt nothing. No pain, no love, nothing. I'm free. And when we do vanquish you, and we will, I'll never look back.

She wrenched open her eyes and ran a shaky hand over her face. Despite everything, she couldn't quite believe that Cole could have forgiven her for those last words she'd spoken to him. At the time she had been so convinced of what she said; she'd wanted her feelings to be gone so badly that she would have said anything to persuade herself. She would have said anything to make Cole give up and go away.

And the next thing she had known he had been dead and her feelings had been so jumbled and confused that she had fallen into a downward spiral she still looked back on with nausea. How could she have been so immature? How could she not have realized what Cole meant to her, even as fearful and angry as she had been at that time? He'd been gone before she could blink and there had been nothing to do but suppress her thoughts and go on.

Go.

The word came as a whisper and Phoebe snapped her head up at the sound. After a moment, she thought she must have imagined it, but then…

Go.

Phoebe stood up and spun around, looking in all directions. As simple as the word was, she heard a voice in that one syllable that she hadn't heard in over twenty-four years.

"Prue?" she whispered.

Go, Phoebe.

"Prue?"

Go.

Across the street, the gate of the fence opened.

Go.

Without another doubt, Phoebe headed across the street, scarcely registering her sudden breathlessness. Fueled by the energy of her big sister, Phoebe raised a hand and knocked firmly on the front door. Then her new-found confidence fled just as suddenly as it had appeared. Just as she registered what she had done, just as she turned to retreat from the house, the door opened.

For what seemed to be the longest stretch of time, there was silence. She couldn't do anything but stare at him, bathed in the light of his foyer. Then, finally, he whispered, "Phoebe?"

She swallowed hard. "Hi, Cole."