Choices

By: Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell

She ran through the hallways of Magic School. Her little girl had to be here somewhere. She dropped her off this morning.

Coming to an empty classroom, her sister's to be exact, Phoebe walked in. "Is anyone here?" she called, but got no response.

Now she took in the appearance of the room. She thought it looked like a tornado went through it. Chairs were in pieces, desks were plowed into the walls. Books were torn and strewn about the room.

"Paige!" she called, walking to the back room, finding the closed door locked. "Paige, are you there?" she asked. Hearing nothing, panic set in as she slung her purse to one shoulder and kicked the door in, finding Paige in a bloody mess on the floor.

She ran over. "Paige!" she called, dropping beside her and brushing the hair out of her face that was matted by blood. "Paige, c'mon," she shook her gently, "wake up," she swallowed hard, pulling her sister into her lap. "Wyatt! Chris!" Phoebe called. "C'mon, please, wake up!" she tried again.

Slowly, Paige's eyes opened. "Ph—Phoebe," she said, coughing up blood.

"Paige, what happened? Wyatt! CHRIS!" she yelled. "We need he—" but Paige covered her mouth.

"There's no time. You've got to stop her, Phoebe. Y – you're the only one she'll listen to," Paige whispered.

"My l—little girl? She – she did all this?" Phoebe asked, shocked. "Why? Why would she hurt you?"

"Her powers are driving her mad, Phoebe," she coughed. "They're too strong – too advanced for her to control."

"Can't you help her, teach her?"

"I tried and it got me here."

"Leo!" Phoebe called.

"He's probably at the house. Phoebe, you've got to go."

"Come on, then you're coming with me," Phoebe said as she helped her sister into a chair.

"But there's no—" Paige tried to protest as Phoebe pushed the chair to the middle of the room. "Wha—what are you doing?" she gasped.

"Here, climb on," Phoebe said with her back to her. "I'm not leaving without you!"

Paige sighed, but climbed on. Phoebe ran down the halls until she reached the door.

"Sweetie, stop it!" she heard through the door. "Calm down. It's okay."

Piper froze the pillows that flew toward her. "Just calm down."

"What's happening?" Paris asked as various objects flew off the walls and around the room.

Phoebe stumbled through doorway. Paris looked up, causing Phoebe to cover her face. In an instant, Phoebe felt the very nature of her daughter's powers changing.

"Paige, what happened to you?" Piper asked.

"Her powers, they're too strong."

Phoebe walked over and sat Paige in a chair.

"Leo!" Piper called.

"I've got her," he said as he Orbed in and healed her.

"Piper, I need to talk to you," Phoebe aid as they walked into the kitchen.

"What about?" she asked as they leaned against the island.

"NO!" Paige screamed and they ran into the living room.

"LEO!" Piper yelled, seeing blood dripping down his neck. She ran and dropped beside him. Phoebe had her eyes on her daughter who was generating a red power around her.

When the young girl spoke, her voice was cold, unnatural. "Silly, Elder. Did you really think you could defeat me?"

"Paris," Phoebe ran toward her, but stopped to dodge a fireball. "Piper, look out!"

"Hu—" she didn't even get the word out before the fireball hit her heart, disintegrating her.

"NO!" Phoebe screamed as she dropped where her sister once stood. She looked around, finding Paige nowhere in sight. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS! TELL ME?" she yelled, lifting the girl off the ground.

"Why?" the girl, who Phoebe knew was no longer her daughter, spoke. "Why not? I'm tired of hiding in the shadows. This girl's body was the perfect vessel."

"V—vessel?" Phoebe asked. "Who the hell are you? Where's my daughter?"

"Who I am should be an easy question witch. My previous vessel was far too weak to complete his mission. He let his true intentions become muddled by his love for you."

Her eyes became wide. "You – you're Balthazar! Now where's my daughter? What have you done with her?"

The emotionless girl smirked. "Oh, this girl?" her voice changed back to normal and tears fell down her cheeks. "M—Mommy? I didn't mean to hurt them!"

"I – I know. I—"

In an instant, the emotionless child was back with a grin plastered on her face. "Cool trick, huh?" she asked as her nails dug into Phoebe's wrist. "But watching your sisters die wasn't the best part," she laughed, "there's more and I can't wait to see your face!"

"M—more?" Phoebe chocked out as the demon let her daughter's soul re-enter her body, temporarily.

"Daddy!" she called.

"No!" Phoebe yelled, covering her mouth, but it was too late.

Coop appeared out of a puff of pink smoke. "Yes, what is—Phoebe, what are you doing?" he asked shocked as he ran over to her.

"Coop, no, it's not her!" Phoebe tried to reason as she backed away.

"Daddy!" she cried.

"Phoebe, put her down," Coop said.

"No, Mommy doesn't need to put me down," she said as she Hearted over him.

"No! Get away from him!" Phoebe yelled.

"Phoebe, what is the matt—" he never got the sentence out because of the Athame that was plunged into his chest.

Phoebe ran over to him as the demon backed away. "Why did you do this?" she cried as she pulled him into her arms.

"You promised me!" she shrieked.

"Promised what?" Phoebe asked as Coop rested his head in her shoulder.

"I heard you. You said I would come first, no matter what, but you were too caught up in chasing demons and being with everybody else except me. Now you will feel the pain I've felt for the past six years as you watch him die and be powerless to stop it!" she laughed as she left…

"No!" Phoebe yelled as she shot up in bed and turned on the bedside lamp, seeing the slight bulge in her stomach which meant it had only been a nightmare. "Coop! Where are you?" she cried through the silence of the night. Her arms were wrapped protectively around her stomach. "Coop!" she called again, but still got no answer.

"Coop please!"

"I'm right here, Phoebe," he said as she sat on their bed and she leaned into his shoulder. "What's that matter?" she shook her head. "It's all right. I won't leave again. I'd forgotten how much your Empathic powers changed," he said as she brushed her long hair to her back as kissed her. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Phoebe nodded, resting her head against his chest and wrapping her arms around him, taking a shaky breath. "She—she killed everyone," she swallowed hard, "even you – right in front of me. She said she heard the promise I made to her and accused me of never keeping it. Saying that I was too busy fighting demons and being with everyone except her."

"Phoebe, that's not going to happen. We love her and we'll prove it to her every day," he assured.

"But what if she was right? What if I'm so caught up in being a Charmed One that I forget and—" he kissed her again, cutting off her rant.

Coop smiled. "You won't. You've waited for so long. You've wanted her for so long. And I'll keep you on track," she was about to protest, but he continued. "Demons are part of our lives, unfortunately, but you and your sisters work very hard to make sure that family comes first."

She sighed. "Yes, but I just don't want her forgetting how much I love her just because I might not be around as much as I'd like to be because I know demons aren't going to stop – if anything, they'll be even more persistent – just because another witch is born."

He smiled. "So does Piper she and balances working at P3, two sons and an Elder, and battling demons. If that's any indication, I think we'll be all right."

"I love you," she said looking into his eyes as she felt a kick. "Oh, both of you!"

"It's going to be okay and no matter what, I'm here," he said as they lay down.

"I know, but I don't think I can get back to sleep. It just felt too real," she said as she entwined her fingers with his.

"Sometimes nightmares do. They teach us very painful lessons that we would rather not face when awake," he said pulling her close.

She sighed, leaning into him. "I just hope nothing like that will tear us apart."

"Like what?" he asked as he sat up and threw his shirt to the floor.

Phoebe bit her lip. "I said the girl wasn't our daughter, but you didn't believe me…" tears were falling again.

"And that's what led to whatever happened to me?"

She nodded.

He took her face in his hands. "I love you and I trust your judgment. If you say it isn't her, I'll believe you," he told her as she leaned in and kissed him.

"Okay."

"Can you sleep yet?"

She yawned. "I think so," as he laid back down and rubbed down her back. "Wow, that's much better," she said as she laid her head on his chest.

"Pain could've done it," he said.

"As well as fears," she added. "And I know both come with the territory. Even Piper was afraid."

"Mhm."

"We'll protect her as best we can, but we can't shelter her forever," she rolled her eyes. "Grams taught us that much."

He smiled. "I'm glad she did. Look Phoebe," he said sitting up, "the sun is rising."

She smiled as she placed one hand on her stomach and the other over her heart. "Maybe this is the perfect world after all," Coop turned his head. "I've got you, my sisters and their families and now, finally, I'll have you, Ladybug."

"It's your perfect world and I intend to keep it that way," he yawned.

"I guess I'm very lucky then," she said as he pulled her back down with him.

He smiled. "Not just you," he said kissing her neck.

She laughed. "I'm glad. Our life is as perfect as we want it. I do promise to be the best mommy you'll ever have!"

"You will be! I just know it!" he said.

She yawned. "And I'll tell you all the ways I will be when we wake up, okay?"

"You're feeling better then?"

"Yes. Goodnight."

"We love you!" Coop smiled.

Phoebe's nightmares stopped after that night and all she could think about was how perfect her life had become. With her husband and family beside her, her life would always be a paradise.

THE END

Author's Note: I hope you liked it! Please review!

I'm working on both Released and I'll Trust my Heart to You. I don't know which will be updated first at this point, but hopefully sometime this week, one of them will be!

In other news: I finally moved into my apartment! I love it! The only bad thing is that right now, I don't have internet access on my laptop, so I'm using one of the two public computers. -Sigh- But it's better than no internet at all, I suppose. And I'm using IE instead of FireFox, so the title and author are on the left instead of centered.

Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell