Chapter One - The calm always arrives before the storm
The dark night sky had a slight orange tint to it as dawn began to break over San Francisco. The smell of morning dew hung in the air and the wind was as crisp as ice as it blew throughout the city. The first few flakes of snow fell once again. A buzzing sound rang throughout the inside of 1329 Prescott street as a very sleepy and now very grumpy Phoebe Halliwell awoke. She turned away from her husband and gave the alarm clock a heavy thwack before turning back and laying her sleepy eyes again to rest, however she was not going to get her way this morning. Just as she shut her eyes, the radio switched itself on as a second alarm. 'Goooood Morning San Francisco! It's 6.30 am, 25 degrees fahrenhait, snow is falling. It's going to be a pretty gloomy day." Phoebe felt herself wanting to make the radio announcer's day gloomy herself as she turned over and turned it off; sitting up in bed to make sure she was in some part awake. She got up and walked towards the back of her bedroom door, grabbed her robe and wrapped it around her before heading to the window. Opening the curtains she could see the sun rising over the horizon, and she opened the window, breathing in the fresh air. She sat beside the window on the armoire and watched her husband sleeping. He looked so peaceful when he slept, it couldn't help but put a smile on her face. His nose twitched in his sleep. Phoebe gave a short smirk and a little laugh, if you could call it that. She walked over to him and leant beside the bed, posistioning herself on the floor. Stroking the little bridge of his nose with her index finger, she tried to wake him up. This method always worked without fail. He stirred in his sleep before groggily opening his eyes. She smiled as she saw him awaken and kissed the tip of his nose. He looked up and squinted towards her before kissing her in return.
"Good Morning" she said in a low tone. "It's time to get up sleepy-head." She got up to her feet and switched the light on, dimming it so it wasn't too blinding. Opening the door, she walked down the hallway, switching on the lights there too as she went. Heading for the living room, she made her way downstairs and turned on the TV. She always checked the news when she got up in the morning. 'Nothing interesting,' she thought to herself. Heading to make a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen, she turned on the radio. She smiled when she heard a song by The 411 on called 'Chance.' She tapped her feet and sang along to the lyrics as she made the coffee. "I tried so many times to make you see that you can't buy my love. When you see me in the club with another guy just remember it was you who said goodbye. You expected me to sit around and wait for you telling you boy that you ain't that fly, you had your chance with me.' Hearing songs with a good beat in the early morning always lifted Phoebe's spirits for the day. As the coffee was ready to drink she poured herself a cup and one for her husband - Cole Turner. Smiling, she headed back up the stairs still humming the song from the radio in her head. Going into their bedroom, she placed her cup on the dresser and went round to Cole, who had fallen asleep, not to her surprise. She tapped him on the shoulder. "Cole. It's time to get up, here's your coffee."
Cole was mumuring in his sleep; Phoebe glanced at the clock. "Come on Cole, I haven't got time for this. You've got to get to work." Trying to get him out of bed in the morning was like trying to draw blood from a rock. Although she did have to give him credit, some mornings he was up at quite a considerable time before her. "Okay. Okay." Cole said, pushing himself into an upright position. She handed him his cup, taking it from her he took a sip and smiled at her. As she walked over to the wardrobe to pick out the outfit suitable for her day, a million and more thoughts ran through her head. She picked out her outfit - a pair of hipster jeans, a stylish black top and a pair of black boots from the bottom of the wardrobe. As she got changed, she looked at Cole. He seemed so pensive...so deep in thought. It wasn't often he was like this. Actually, she'd never seen him like this. "Are you alright Cole" she asked, questionably. His response was a simple shrug. "I'm fine. I'll be okay. Don't you have to go to work" Phoebe stared at him. "Yes, and so do you. I can't even make half the income we need without you going to work so you better get your butt out of bed." With that, she walked out of the room and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and do her hair. Little did Cole know, today she wouldn't be heading to work. She was meeting up with an old friend from school for lunch and she couldn't wait. This was likely to be the event of her week.
She walked back into her bedroom to see their bed empty. 'That's Odd' she thought to herself, she hadn't heard anyone go downstairs. She dismissed it and grabbed her new bag and headed downstairs. As she headed to the kitchen to pour herself another cup of coffee she stopped as she saw that there was only 1 car on the drive - hers. Normally Cole's would be there to, but since it wasn't there he must have taken himself off to work. 'He's never left without telling me or letting me know somehow' Phoebe thought. She looked toward the clock, 7.45. Phoebe had plenty of time to kill at this point, looking in the mirror beside her she looked at her hair. It looked like it hadn't been cared for in years. "Right, that's it." She grabbed her new bag off the table and walked out of the manor. Getting in her black and silver mini cooper she drove down into the high street to go to the salon.
Pulling up to the kerb, Phoebe stepped out of the car and was about to step into the salon when she heard her phone ring. Reaching into her bag she pulled out her cell, 'Piper calling' the screen read. Flipping the top she answered the phone with a cheery 'Hey Piper!' She hadn't spoken to her sister in almost a week, an unusually long time. They used to call each other daily but recently, that seemed to be the latter of the things they did. 'Hey Pheebs..' the voice on the other end spoke. 'Just calling to see how you are.' Phoebe smiled, she loved how her sister always seemed to put other people before herself. 'I'm great thanks, actually about to go and get my hair done. You?' She signalled through the window to Jill, her stylist that she'd be in in a minute. 'Oh I'm good. Meet me later, say around 3?' 'Sure, I'm meeting Rachel from college at 1 so thats perfect. Speak to you later, bye!' 'Bye!' she heard the phone click at the end of the other line and put her cell back into her bag, and then made her way into the salon. 'Hey Jill.' she spoke as she hung her coat up. 'Hey Pheebs, haven't seen you around for a while. How are you? Cole?' Phoebe hung her head and nodded as Jill spoke. 'Yeah, i'm sorry - I haven't had time to come in here for a while. I'm okay, feeling a bit under the weather actually. Cole's good..I think. You?' 'Oh I'm good. So, what can I do for you today" Phoebe thought, nothing too drastic, but not the same as usual. She wanted a change in her life.. "I think we could dye my hair a little darker and maybe add some highlights" Jill nodded, she knew just what colours to use. "Sure, take a seat."
what you see's, not what you get...