Love's Learning Curve
Search Party
Chapter 14
Cole and Iolaus easily reached the conclusion that there was no way Bailey would make it back on his own. He was too unsure of his new powers. They were going to have to go after him. Neither was too happy about it since time travel was always dicey. The two men also knew they would have to contact their wives first and that neither Nebula nor Phoebe would be anymore thrilled by the prospect.
As if Cole's thoughts had conjured Phoebe, she and John appeared before him. He could tell by the look on their faces that they didn't have good news to impart either. "What's up?" he asked trying to keep his tone neutral.
Phoebe stepped forward and threw her arms around him and gave him a tender kiss. "You might want to sit down for this," she advised. "Phoebe, I'll be okay just go ahead and break whatever the bad news is," Cole said.
"Belthazor has started killing again," she said softly. Cole closed his eyes and swore softly. He tightened his embrace around Phoebe and inhaled the scent of her perfume. It helped keep him from losing control.
Once he felt calm enough he kept one arm around Phoebe and turned to John. "Who was the victim?" he asked. "A guy in his mid thirties who matches our general physical description. He was an Atlanta resident. Sam and Rachel think he's trying to unnerve you."
"I'll just have to surprise him then by holding onto my sanity as tightly as I can won'tI? I'm going to need it when I destroy that bastard once and for all," Cole vowed. "You'retaking this far better than we thought you would," John commented.
"Iolaus and I have done a lot of talking while we've been searching for Bailey and he's helped me to accept some things a bit more concretely. Though I still think it's my responsibility to take Belthazor down, I finally accept that I'm not guilty of his crimes."
"Thank heaven," Phoebe sighed. "And thank you Iolaus for whatever you said to him. She drew away from Cole just long enough to give Iolaus a quick hug; He blushed but clearly enjoyed the attention.
"That is great news," John said. "I only have one thing to add. You said it is your responsibility to take Belthazor down and while I understand your need to do so, you also have to remember that this is not your fight alone. It's all our fight and we will do it together."
Cole wanted to object but Phoebe stopped him. "Don't argue with your brotherhe is right and between him, me, and the rest of the family we can out stubborn you, so don't even think you'd have a chance of convincing us otherwise. In fact the rest of the team has already started work on a plan of attack.
Cole smiled despite the seriousness of the situation. They were right he didn't have to go into battle alone anymore and to be honest he didn't want to. "That's good," he said aloud. We can join them as soon as we take care of the Bailey situation.
"You still haven't found him?" John asked worriedly. "Oh we found him all right," Iolaus answered. "It is just where we found him that's the problem." "Where is he?" Phoebe questioned.
"Well to the best of our knowledge we think he is in Atlanta which might not be bad if he hadn't accidentally chose to return to the wrong century. He time traveled back to 1868." "Oh dear lord," Phoebe sighed.
"That doesn't sound good," Hercules said as he entered the room with Ares. "Yeah we are going to have to go back and get him," Iolaus informed his friend. "Do you want some assistance?" Hercules asked. "No I think we can handle it," Iolaus answered, "but thanks."
In the meantime Cole turned to Phoebe and John and said "you better be getting back to the Mansion. I'll be back as soon as I can." "Oh no mister," Phoebe remarked while she waved her finger in his face. "You're not going without me. We work better as a team anyway." "Phoebe," Cole sighed. "Remember what we just talked about," she reminded him. He shook his head and gave in. Like he had any other choice.
John announced he was coming too since Bailey was his friend. That didn't surprise Cole but what shocked everybody was when Ares informed everyone that he was coming as well. "I'm not so sure that is a good idea," Hercules said to his half brother.
"Would you rather have mebe sitting around here twiddling my thumbs, bored out of my skull, and tempted to cause misery? Besides no offense intended here but relatively speaking this whole group is novice at their powers compared to me. I've had mine for millenniums. I was born to them. This search party might need my skills."
"All right," Iolaus reluctantly agreed. "Just don't cause any trouble and whatever any of us do, we have to be careful. We can't change history remember?" Everyone nodded in agreement. They secured a promise from Hercules that he would go tell Nebula and Prue what was up and help keep on eye on things at the Halliwell Mansion while the search party was on their way. Cole just hoped this went off without a hitch because he couldn't very well help Bailey find his true love if he wasn't anywhere to be found himself.