I don't Charmed, sadly. "Enter the Demon" written by Daniel Cerone has lines in this chapter, but are tweaked to fit Phoebe's POV.
Sorry for the long wait on the update. School has been super busy! Enjoy!
I looked up at the manor unsure of what to do next. I looked down at my watch. There was no way Piper was up yet, unless Chris or Wyatt decided to wake her up. It was times like this when I wished I had a power as handy as orbing. Or shimmering even, Cole could shimmer. I shook my head, and willed myself to get him out of my thoughts. It didn't quite work.
I walked up the stairs of the manor and instantly found the hide-a-key. After all of these years, the location had never changed. I slipped it in the lock and slowly opened the door as quietly as possible.
Crrrreeeaaak!
I cringed and made a mental note to tell Leo to get that fixed. I held my breath as I stepped into the foyer, praying the noise hadn't woken anyone. I heard snoring coming from upstairs. Good, now to get the door closed without it creaking again and to get up to the attic without being noticed. As soon as my hand touched the door, I heard footsteps. I froze.
"Phoebe?" Piper asked, groggily.
"Damn it," I muttered.
"What are you doing here at this hour?" Piper yawned.
"I needed to check the Book for something," I explained.
"It couldn't wait until morning?"
"No."
I suppose it could have. I just didn't want to have to explain what I was looking for to her, but it looked like I was going to have to anyway.
"What is it that's so important?"
There it was.
"Well…umm…" I stammered.
"Come on, Pheebes. What is it?"
Cole. I wanted to bring my demonic ex-husband back from the dead so we can live happily ever after together. Happy now?
"It's nothing. Sorry I woke you," I mumbled, turning to leave.
"Phoebe, I'm your big sister. I've known you your whole life and I think I know when something's going on by now. Come on now, what is it?" Piper asked, leading me over to the couch.
I had some options here. I could tell her the truth or I could lie and blame it on one of our numerous deceased family members. That might work…
"It's Cole isn't it?"
I shook my head in disbelief. Had I heard her correctly?
"It's just you have that look in your eyes," Piper started. "The look you always got when you were around him."
I looked my sister in the eyes and nodded. I felt too guilty to say anything. I guess she knows me better than I thought. Piper reached out and stroked my hair.
"Sweetie, why are you thinking about him again?"
"Coop doesn't get it. He just doesn't get it."
"Doesn't get what?" Piper wanted to know.
"Me," I said softly. "Cole did. He knew what I wanted before I did half of the time. He loved me so much and I…I just…I want him back."
"Sweetie…"
"He was possessed, Piper. Possessed by the Source. We've all been possessed before, but never by anything as strong as the Source. He never meant to hurt me and he was so excited about having a baby with me…"
"But when he came back invincible, he tried to kill me."
"Piper…"
"Hear me out," Piper instructed. "You gave him the cold shoulder and tried to kill him numerous times. Why?"
"You have to understand I didn't want him dead, Piper. That whole indestructible potion that blew up his blood, I knew it wasn't going to work on him. I was just making a show for you and Paige. I figured if either of you found out I still had feelings for him…"
"So when he finally died?"
"I cried myself to sleep for weeks. I still wake up thinking about him. Like tonight for instance."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Piper asked.
"I was afraid. You hated Cole."
"I only hated him when he was trying to kill me and when he took you away from us. I didn't hate him as strongly as Prue and Paige did. I knew he was evil and all, but he made you happy."
"Why didn't you tell me that?" I asked with a laugh.
"Phoebe, do you remember last year when Leo wasn't around because they took his memory and I fell into that comma type thing?" Piper wanted to know.
I nodded, wondering where she was going with this.
"And do you remember how I said and old friend helped me out?"
I nodded again, starting to realize her point.
"It was Cole."
"What?!" I asked a bit too loud. Okay really loud.
I knew it was coming, but it still freaked me out.
"Shhh…" Piper quieted me. "Yeah umm… apparently he was wondering around the house on the astral plane. When my spirit went there during the coma, he was there. He helped me call out to Leo and bring him back. He has very deep views about love…"
"Don't I know it," I mumbled. "Why are you just telling me this now?"
"I thought you hated him," Piper confessed.
Hate him? I could never hate him. Whether I wanted to admit or not, the only emotion I was capable of feeling towards Cole was love.
"So what do you plan on doing, exactly?" Piper questioned.
"I was going to try to bring him back," I shrugged.
"Phoebe," Piper cautioned.
"I know, I know. There was a reason why I wasn't planning on telling you."
"Are you sure that's what you really want? I mean once you bring him back, you would have to kill him again to get rid of him. And for all we know, he might still be invincible."
"It's want I really, truly want. I just keep thinking about that little girl from my vision, she has his eyes…" I trailed off at the thought.
It had occurred to me a of couple weeks ago that the girl I had dreamed about so often was Cole's daughter. Her eyes, they weren't Coop's and they weren't mine, they were unmistakably Cole's. I can't believe I didn't see that earlier. It would have saved me a lot random dates…
"I'll go get the Book," Piper offered.
"Piper you don't have to…"
"I want to help. Besides I'm partly responsible for why he's gone."
"You're just as guilty as I am. Which is why I keep blaming the whole thing on Paige. We weren't there to control our actions."
Piper snickered and went up to the attic to retrieve the Book of Shadows. We spent the rest of the night/morning flipping through pages. At the moment we'd only found one solution: momentarily kill me or put me in a coma so I could talk to Cole in the astral plane and see if he knew how to bring him back to life.
"Phoebe, we weren't able to bring Prue back, what makes you so sure we can even bring Cole back to life?" Piper inquired.
"Two reasons," I started. "One, if he's in the astral plane, he's not technically dead. He's not in Heaven or Hell, just Limbo. Two, that daughter of mine is his. Looking at her, it's so obvious to me now. I didn't get those premonitions until a year after Paige sent him to the astral plane."
Piper sighed. Or maybe it was more of yawn. I had woken her up pretty early…
"We could use water!" Piper exclaimed.
"Excuse me?"
"Water as a portal. Remember the Zen Master?"
I laughed at the memory. Another one of Paige's "I'm new to witchcraft and have no idea of what I'm doing spells" gone awry had caused the two of us to switch bodies during the Zen Master "case". I felt another flashback coming on…
FlashbackI entered the house and put down my bag on the table. Well I guess I screwed that up, I thought, thinking about my, I mean Paige's, date with Mason. I took off my coat and hat, then headed for the living room. Cole appeared out of nowhere.
"Cole! You scared me," I told him.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to. With the rain outside and everyone on Yen-Lo alert," Cole apologized.
I put my coat on the coat rack, thinking about how good Cole looked in that shirt…
"Yeah, Yen-Lo," I agreed. "That's why I rushed home."
"You're chilled. Here put this on," Cole said, offering me his jacket.
Okay this is just strange. Why would he care if Paige was cold?
"Uh, you keep it," I told him, pushing it away.
He pinned me to the wall. At first I was turned on. Then I realized I was still in Paige's body.
"I'm sorry. Am I making you feel... uncomfortable?" Cole asked.
"No, of course not. I was just wondering what "Phoebe" would think about this," I told him.
"Phoebe?"
"Uh, yeah. Your girlfriend, Phoebe. Remember?"
Come on idiot, what's wrong with you? He is so getting slapped later.
"Yes, see, the problem with Phoebe is she's so obsessed with training, she's not interested in - romance anymore," Cole stated.
How dare he say I wasn't interested in romance? I lived for romance.
"That's not true. I - I mean, she-," I stammered.
Oh, great going.
"You on the other hand, strike me as being full of passion. Desire. I miss that," Cole whispered in my ear.
"I gotta go," I said, struggling to get out of his strong grip.
He kissed me. And it wasn't just some little half-ass peck, it was a real kiss with all the passion he always gives me. I wasn't sure how to react. Paige walked down the stairs.
"Hey!" Paige exclaimed.
I flipped Cole over. I felt like I was going to cry. Paige was my little sister. What was he thinking kissing her like that? Paige came over to us.
"How could you do this to me?" I demanded.
I was so pissed at him. Cole put up his hands innocently.
"Oh, come on. I'm just trying to have a little fun, Phoebe. Isn't that what you were complaining about me not doing?" Cole wanted to know.
"Yeah, but I never meant for... did you just call me Phoebe?"
Clearly, I was confused. Had he figured it out?
"Would you rather I kissed her?" Cole asked, standing up.
"No," I replied, defensively.
I was proud of him for figuring it out, but still a little hurt that he had kissed Paige. But he did know he was really kissing me…
"You know?" Paige asked, confused. "How do you know?"
"Well, for one thing you suck at levitating. And for another, you set me straight about the way I've been treating the real Phoebe as only a sister could," Cole explained.
"You did?" I asked her.
"Someone had to," Paige shrugged.
"Okay, I'm going to go let you guys work this out. When you're yourself again, give me a call," Cole said, playfully.
He smacked me on the butt lightly. I smiled.
"Unh. Oh," I purred.
"We'll have some fun," Cole winked.
Paige looked away slightly in disgust. He shimmered out.
"Okay, we've got to get back into our own bodies. I am even getting confused," I told Paige.
There was that, but also I wanted to "play" with Cole…
End Flashback.
"Earth to Phoebe," Piper called.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about how Paige and I switched bodies," I confessed, not delving into the Cole details.
"You know what I'm talking about, right?" Piper asked.
I nodded.
"Good because I really think you should go see if Cole knows how we can free him. The Book is not helpful."
I felt my pulse get faster. I was going to see him. I had no idea what I was supposed to tell him. What would he do when he saw me? I figured there was only one way to answer my questions…
"So," I started. "What are we going to use for my water portal?"