Falling down

Chapter 1 – Beginning of the problems

Piper sat on the bed of her bedroom and she held the picture of her and her husband, Leo. Since he became an Elder, he almost had no time for her and his sons. Last time he came down a week ago, just to say "Hi!" She felt alone and she needed to talk to him, because their relationship wasn't what it used to be…

"Leo!" She yelled "Leo, get down here, now! Leo, if you don't get down now, I'm coming up there to get you!"

She saw orbs in front of her and her husband appeared in her room. He was wearing an Elder rope and he looked a lot like an Elder, and that made Piper even angrier than she already was.

"Hi, Piper." Leo hugged her "What is all the yelling about?" He looked worried at his wife.

"Hi, Leo. I would like to remind you that you are not only an Elder, but you're also my husband and the father of my kids, so you have duties down here, too. You can't spend all the time up with those freaky Elders, you need to spend some time down here, because this is your real life!" Piper said with anger. She was really pissed.

"Piper, we have emergencies these days, so I have to be up there with Elders. I'm one of them, and now they need every Elder and whitelighter that they can get to be up there, with them. Since the Source was vanquished, all the demons are trying to become the new one, and for that, they are killing witches and innocents. We can't allow that. Besides that, the other half of the underworld is re-organizing to attack our world and to bring the underworld 'one level' closer to the Elders." Leo explained the 'Elder problems' to his wife, but she was tired of listening the same thing over and over again.

"Listen to me, Leo Wyatt. When we got married, you promised to always be there for me and to respect me, and that's not exactly what you do these days. I'm tired of your damn explanations why can't you be with me and the boys. It's time for you to make a choice – me or them." Piper finally told Leo something that she wanted to tell him for a long time.

"Piper, you can't be serious!" Leo looked at Piper like she is mad "You know that I can't choose between who I am. I'm your husband, but I'm also an Elder and I waited to become both for a very long time. Please, don't make me to choose."

"Me or them" Piper repeated

"Piper, please, calm down. You're just upset, that's all. My wife will never make me to choose between her and the Elders. Remember who you are, Pipe. Call me when you calm down, okay?" Leo looked at her and he orbed out.

"SO, THAT'S WHAT YOU CHOOSE?" Piper yelled with the tears in her eyes "Fine, but do never say that I didn't give you the choice!" She slowly fell on the bed and she cried…

-

Phoebe entered the Manor and yelled "Hello? Is anybody home?" No one answered. "That's okay" she thought "Piper is probably at P3, Leo's at the Elders, Chris, Wyatt, and Melinda are out and Paige and Richard are still at work." She put her bag at one of empty living-room chairs and went to her bedroom. She was very tired and exhausted, so she wanted to nap for a little while. But, in half of her way to the bedroom, a demon shimmered I front of her. She screamed. The demon threw a fire-ball at her, but she levitated, so it just hit the wall. She looked at the demon and...

"Where the hell am I?" Phoebe thought when she opened her eyes. She was tide to a cold wall in some kind of cave. There was no one around. She tried to remember how she got there, but she couldn't. The only thing she remembered was that she fought a demon and that she looked at him, nothing else. She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the demon's face, because she couldn't remember of anything, but suddenly his face appeared in her head and she quickly opened her eyes. She couldn't believe who attacked her, she couldn't believe that he came back. She tried not to believe in what she saw, but it was impossible. It was… it was Cole. The same Cole that she loved before he was vanquished and the same Cole that she stopped loving when he was vanquished for good (in Centennial Charmed). But, to her it seemed impossible for him to come back after all this time, after all the years. Well, Cole never found out that she was pregnant when he was vanquished and that now they have a grown-up daughter, Melinda. Her mind was interrupted when she heard footsteps.

"C…Cole?" Phoebe yelled.

"Oh, you're truly hoping that your beloved Belthazor shall come to rescue you?" She heard a deep male voice.

"You're wrong, demon!" She yelled. "I hoped to see him just to make sure that he's back. I don't believe that he can be good."

"Well, believe that he is back, because he is, but now he knows where he belongs. And now, let's get to business…" The demon came closer to her and kissed her lips roughly. His arms were on her chest. Phoebe tried to defend herself, but she couldn't do anything. He took his knife out of his pocket and cut her shirt. Phoebe screamed and the next thing she knew was that the demon was burning to death. When he burned out, she looked around to see who did that and she saw Cole standing in the dark corner of the cave and looking at her.

"Too bad he broke the deal" Cole said, more to himself than to Phoebe.

"Cole… Thanks." She whispered.

"Oh, I did that just because the demon broke the deal, which was not to touch you." Cole said to her. He waved his hand and the rope around her was gone.

"You can go, I don't need you here." He looked at her.

"Uh, okay." Phoebe stood up, trying to cover her bra with her split-in-a-half shirt. Cole looked at her. He waved his hand again and Phoebe shimmered out to the Manor…

-

Paige meanwhile sat on the sofa in the Manor and watched her favorite TV-show. She was worried for Phoebe, who wasn't home yet, and it was 4:30 AM, and also for Piper, who was crying in her room, not letting anyone in. Richard went to his house to do some business, and Leo was at the Elders. At once, she heard shimmer behind her, and she turned around to face the demon, but she saw her older sister in a bra, looking helpless.

"PHOEBE!" Paige yelled panicly "WHAT HAPPENED?"

"I… kidnap… Cole… demon…" Phoebe tried to say something, but her mind wasn't ready to say it.

"What? Phoebe, I can't understand you. Here…" Paige gave her a clean shirt that was on the sofa "Put this on. And please, tell me what happened."

"I…I came back home and… and demon attacked me. He…kidnapped me and…and he tried to rape me. And…the other demon saved me." Phoebe somehow felt like she wasn't supposed to say 'Cole did', so she didn't.

"Wait… A DEMON SAVED YOU?" Paige yelled.

"Yes, they made a deal, which was not to touch me, but that demon broke it, so the other one killed him."

"Did you see his face?" Paige looked at her big sister.

"N…" Phoebe looked at Paige's face and she knew that she can't lie to her. Paige was already terrified. "Yes, it was Cole."

Paige looked at Phoebe and screamed "Not again! I was so happy that he's gone. That son of a bitch always finds his way to escape the death. What's wrong – are the Elders running out of angel of deaths?"

"Yes, I felt peaceful when you vanquished him, too, but that 'son of a bitch' as you call him saved me from…" they heard something behind them and they saw Piper standing on the stairs and looking at them.

"Hi, Piper." Phoebe whispered

"Hi." Piper hugged her "So, Cole is back…again." She continued "This would be the…fourth time?"

"Fifth, actually." Phoebe corrected her. The rain was pounding on the windows, and they talked inside. At once, someone appeared behind them. Paige quickly turned around and saw Richard. Her face stunned.

"You son of a bitch!" Paige yelled "I told you something about magic! We agreed that you and magic DON'T get along fine!" She kept yelling "You are a liar! You promised me something!" she cried "I don't want to see you ever again! LIAR!"

"No, Paige, listen: I didn't tell you that I'm doing magic, because I didn't want to hurt you, but…" Richard looked sadly at Paige, who screamed "GET OUT!", so he disappeared. Paige sat on the sofa and cried.

Piper looked at her sadly and whispered "The same thing happened to me." The three of them hugged…

-

"You are crazy, Wyatt!" Melinda yelled as she entered the Manor. "You stupid idiot, how could you? I'll tell Aunt Piper"

"Oh, Mel. You're acting like you're nine years old. I'll tell Aunt Piper... WELL, HE DESERVED IT"

"Okay, you three, what is going on here" Piper, Phoebe and Paige showed up and looked at Wyatt, whose cheek was red (someone slapped him, obviously) and Melinda, who was pretty angry and pissed.

"This... moron just banished his own brother" Melinda yelled angrily. "He waved with the hand and Chris just... disappeared"

"YOU DID WHAT, WYATT" Piper looked at Wyatt, who was just laughing loudly. "Well, little Chris accidentally insulted my girlfriend, so I accidentally banished him. But, don't worry, I told him that I'll be glad to get him back when he thinks about what he said."

"Where is he, Wyatt" Piper yelled.

"Astral plane, past, future, alternate reality, lobbies... Who knows" Wyatt tried to sound coldhearted, but he wasn't coldhearted at all. In fact, he was just a boy. Chris insulted him, so he got angry and banished him to who-knows-where. He was sorry about it, but he was also scared, because he had no idea how to get him back, he had to pretend like he do, so him mother won't get pissed.

"You don't know how to get him back, do you" Piper read Wyatt's thoughts.

"Wh... Of course I do! Do you really think that I'm not capable to manipulate my powers" Wyatt looked at his mother nervously.

"Wyatt, if you don't know exactly where he is, that means that you used your spell while you were really angry. So, were you angry" Piper asked

"Yes, I guess." Wyatt slowly replied.

"So, you were angry, you overreacted, I suppose that you didn't know what you were doing, and so you accidentally banished him. Is that right"

"Maybe..."

"Well, we have to find Chris, and we have to do it fast because alternate realities and astral planes can get pretty rough..."

"You don't say..." Phoebe and Paige sarcastically said.

"Why, mom" Melinda looked at her mother, wanting to know why she said that so sarcastically.

"Well, after we vanquished your father, who was possessed by Source, he tried to reach me from some kind of astral plane. Well, I cast a spell which leaded me to him, but it turned out to me some kind of hell where you're trapped in the middle of the rocks, boulders and volcanoes, and there's a giant beast that's attacking you. That was the last time I told him that I love him..." Phoebe sadly looked at her daughter.

"Oh..." Melinda tried to sound cheerful, but in fact she was said. "And what about you, Aunt Paige"

"Uh... Well... Phoebe" Paige looked at her sister. Phoebe told Mel everything about Cole except how he died. But now she thought that it's time for her to find out, so she nodded. She also thought that Paige is the one that should tell her, because Phoebe didn't know the details. "So..." Paige continued "Mel, are you ready to find out how your father died"

"Yes, I am." Melinda looked surprised.

"Well, here we go." Paige started "So, after your father got out of the astral plane, he wanted your mother to be with him, like before, but she lost the trust in him, so she told him to stay away from her. It was painful for the both of them and Cole tried to get Phoebe back in many ways. He turned her into a mermaid, Cinderella, queen of all evil, mummy and many other things. He even tried to replace her with a shape shifter, but deep inside, he knew that only normal Phoebe is the love of his life. He got desperate, he tried to kill himself many times, but he was invincible. At last, when he had only one hope left, he decided to go to the alternate reality where he can see what sill happen if one mistake didn't really happen; if I didn't come along. But in the moment he switched realities, I was in the middle of the orbing, so I appeared in that reality, too. It was awful reality. Cole cheated on Phoebe, Phoebe cheated on Cole, Piper was cruel killer, Wyatt was never born, I was killed by the Source... Awful. Well, anyway, as I came along, the power of three was reconstituted, so Phoebe vanquished your father. But, this time, it was forever." She took a breath. "So, basically, that's the story."

"He died to get your love back" Melinda whispered, looking at Phoebe.

"Yes." Phoebe whispered, too. "He loved me more than anything in the whole world, but it seems like my love wasn't strong enough to keep our relationship alive."

"Well, it's not your fault. Cole betrayed you so many times; you just had to draw a line once. I know that you were sorry when he died, but you got over it." Piper gently looked at her sister.

"Yeah, until I found out that I was pregnant. In that moment, I would give up my life, just to have him back. It was my entire fault." Phoebe said in self-disrespecting way.

"Well, at least you could kill him." Piper joked "If I could kill Leo, I would kill him right now."

"But, why" Phoebe was curious "What happened between you two. You said that you'll call him over, so you two can talk and the next thing I know is that you're crying in your room for hours, not letting anyone in."

"Well, between me and the Elders, he chose them." Piper took a deep breath. "So, we'll not see him around anymore or... or ever again."

"WHAT" Phoebe and Paige yelled at the same time.

"Well, Halliwell tradition finally got us. Phoebe, you lost your true love long time ago, and Paige and I lost ours a few hours ago. Cruel destiny, ha"

"Time is cruel when it splits you apart from someone you love,

Destiny's cruel when it right from the start puts a dart through your heart." Phoebe started singing one of her favorite songs (A/N: I wrote that song!).

"What 'Halliwell tradition'" Melinda looked at Piper and Phoebe.

"Oh, God, I never told you. Well, on the day of Piper's wedding, we found out that there's some sort of 'curse and blessing' that's upon Halliwell family. It says 'All Halliwells are blessed as witches, but cursed as lovers.'"

"What does that mean?" Mel yelled.

"That means that the longest relationship you'll have will last for... a year and if you ever get married, you'll soon divorce." Phoebe explained. Mel was shocked.

"Oh great" She said "It seems like our lives are slowly breaking apart, ha"

-

Well, this was the fist chapter! Did you like it? Of course, this story is supposed to be a 'bad story with a happy end' of some type. And, once again, I would repeat the same old thing… please, hit me with the reviews. Well, blessed be!