A/N: I am so sorry for how long I took to get this out. I had to switch computers, and nothing I had was compatible to this website, so I wasn't able to update. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it at least a little bit.

Big thank yous to FanficFemale, Bleu Feenix, lizardmomma, Another Phoebe, SpeedDemon315, BlackPuma137, JessicaKuran, and cursedgirl for reviewing. Hopefully I'll see you guys again!

Chapter Twenty-Five

'I shouldn't be doing this,' Leo thought to himself as he maneuvered through the Underworld in search of answers he wasn't sure he would find. He tried to keep his worry at bay, but so far it wasn't working. So much of all this didn't add up; Piper and Paige going to the Underworld, not telling Prue or himself where they were going, and not finding some way of letting them know they were okay. Prue, Phoebe, and maybe Paige, but not Piper. She would never let Leo worry like that.

So far he found the place deserted. In his experience, that was never good. That only meant that the demons and warlocks were up to something. He briefly thought of Prue, back in the manor alone and without the Power of Three. If anything happened to her while he was down here, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He thought about going back up and figuring out another way of finding Piper and Paige, or maybe even bring Prue down here with him, but quickly voided the idea. It felt like playing right into the demons hands with all four sisters in the Underworld. Exactly what Cole wanted, probably.

Telling himself that he was doing the right thing by being down here, Leo proceded on, walking slowly and as quietly as he could so he wouldn't alert the demons to his presence. He didn't know how long or how far he walked, but the more time he spent without approaching, hearing, or sensing a demon at all, the more worried he became. That meant they were converging, a sign that something big was about to happen.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he heard voices.

"D'you think this was the Source's plan all along?"

"No, but with his wife no longer a Charmed One, and two of them locked up, why wouldn't he take the opportunity?"

"I just hope it works. It's about time those witches were killed, once and for all!"

"Yeah, me too. My only regret is not being able to kill them myself!"

The two male demons started laughing, and Leo felt his heart stop. Piper! The demons knew Piper and Paige were in the Underworld, which meant that they were either captured or were being followed. Which also meant that they knew Prue was alone. Alone and vulnerable.

Leo stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes, trying desperately to push his worry to the far reaches of his mind and focus instead on his wife and Paige, letting thoughts of only them fill his entire being. It wouldn't work if they weren't close by since his powers were drastically reduced in the Underworld, but he had to try. Everything was riding on him succeeding.

He felt relief as he sensed the sisters. It wasn't nearly as strong as he'd hoped for, but it was there, and that was all that mattered. Opening his eyes, he readied himself for action, refusing to be caught off guard should any demon or warlock spot him. Neither he nor the Charmed Ones could afford for him to fail.

Taking a deep breath, Leo moved from his hiding spot and hurried throughout the various caves, watching for the two demons he heard talking, as well as any others who might stand in his way. The deeper he went into the Underworld, the stronger his sense of Piper and Paige became. At least he knew he was going in the right direction, if nothing else.

After what felt like several hours, even though he knew it was really only half an hour or so, he could feel Piper and Paige as though they were standing right next to him. He pressed himself against the nearest cavern wall and prepared himself for the worst. After he counted to ten silently to himself and took a deep breath, he turned around to face whatever it was that waited for him.

He saw Piper and Paige in a cage, talking silently to themselves. Three guards were placed around it, all with their arms crossed and looking as though they were just waiting for a fight. Suddenly Leo wished Prue was with him after all. Her power would've been no match for them. Now, all he had was an orbing power and the ability to heal. Not very useful in busting his charges out of their prison.

He could tell without being told that the cage was built so that magic couldn't get out. Otherwise Leo knew that Paige would've orbed herself and Piper out of there long ago. The Elders had told him long ago that the demons had built various cages like that so that it would be practically impossible for their prisoners to escape. He had been warned of them since his first days of Whitelighter duty, but this was the first time he was been up against one of them.

Somehow he had to let Piper and Paige know he was here without alerting the guards. A tricky task to be sure, but Leo knew just how to do it.

He turned away from the room with the cage and closed his eyes again, focusing all his energy on getting a thought to Paige. Well, not really a thought. More like a premonition, although it technically wasn't that either. She had his power to sense as well, and if he could get her to somehow tap into that power, he could let her know that he was here. The trick was getting her to tap into it.

Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing if Paige was getting the message. She wasn't versed enough in her powers to give him 'visions' too. Besides that, he didn't have the power to have visions like some of the Elders did. No Whitelighter did.

When he was sure he did all he could, he peered over the side of the wall for any sign that Paige had gotten the message.

He saw her whisper something to Piper, and gestured for her not to say anything, so Leo assumed that she got the message. Now all that was left was figuring out a way to bust them out.

When Phoebe woke up the next morning, she felt like she was going to throw up. Not exactly the best way to start off the day. After finding out that Cole had sold their brand new penthouse that they hadn't even lived in for two months, Phoebe hadn't been in the best mood last night. Even when they had made up, which they always did after every fight, she wasn't sure she quite had it in her to forgive him. If he had discussed it with her before he went out and sold it, maybe she wouldn't have minded so much. But the fact that he had taken the liberty of doing it himself, and then just assuming that she would be okay with living in the Underworld. He knew very well that she didn't like it down here.

After laying in bed trying to keep her dinner from last night down, she got up, feeling that maybe she could get to the closet without feeling like she was on a boat. But then her mind went to the breakfast she knew she wasn't going to eat, and she found herself barely making it to her bathroom area before she threw up her dinner from last night.

After several minutes of feeling as though she were about to die, brushed her teeth extensively and managed to put on a black knee-high dress since it was one of the only things in her wardrobe she could wear without putting any effort into it. She didn't think she had enough strength to walk.

When she left her chambers and entered the living area she found her least favorite demon sitting on their sofa as though he lived there. Maseras looked up at her as she entered and flashed her a toothy grin which she wanted to wipe off his face.

"Have a good night?"

Phoebe definitely did not have the strength to deal with him today. "Let me make something absolutely clear, okay? You will not address me unless I address you. You will not look at me, talk to me, smile at me. I'm still debating whether or not I want you to breathe the same air I do. And I definitely don't want you sitting on my furniture. Got it?"

This didn't have the desired effect she was aiming for. In fact, Maseras now seemed even more pleased with himself than before. "I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, My Queen," he said, saying the last two words with as much sarcasm as he possibly could. "But the Source has requested my presence here for your own protection. I don't go anywhere you don't go, so I suggest you get used to it because there isn't anything you can do about it."

"We'll see about that." Mustering up what was left of her strength, Phoebe strode past him and headed towards the cave that Cole used to conduct meetings in. She didn't have to look behind her to know that the slimy demon was right behind her.

"Cole!" she yelled once she got there.

"Phoebe," Cole said in shock. "What are you doing here?"

Not caring that she had an audience, she marched right up to him. "I do not want a demon to follow my every move, and I definitely do not want it to be him," she snapped, pointing her thumb behind her to Maseras, whose sneer widened as he waved to everybody.

Cole glanced around him to the demons who were watching the display with more than their share of amusement. He leaned his head down to meet Phoebe's. "Phoebe, we can discuss this later. Right now I'm in the middle of a very important meeting..."

"Save it, Cole. Okay? I don't care. I just want that demon out of my sight."

Cole rubbed his temples, looking even more agitated than Phoebe felt. "We have had this conversation, Phoebe. There are countless other demons out there who are just waiting for an opportunity to wipe us out and get their shot to run things down here. Maseras is only here to make sure that doesn't happen to you. No matter what he does, he is here to protect you, so until I think that there is nothing more to worry about, he stays. Okay?"

Phoebe knew the only reason Cole wasn't losing it was that he didn't want to appear weak in front of the other demons, and that he would probably want to discuss it further once the meeting was over and they were back in the privacy of their own quarters. So she nodded and left, glaring at everyone as she left as though asking them to laugh at or defy her.

"See, My Queen? You're stuck with me. He tells you that it's for your own protection, but you ought to know better. He doesn't trust you. He's afraid you're going to betray him. It doesn't matter how many times you go to him, in the end, he'll always keep me around because he trusts me more than you. His own wife." He spat the last word as though it burned him to say it.

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of thinking he had gotten to her, Phoebe didn't say anything. She just turned on her heel and went back to her quarters, knowing Cole's henchman was right behind her.

"I get what you're saying, Paige. I really do. But I still don't understand how we're going to get out without the guards seeing," Piper said for what felt like the umpteenth time. Earlier, when Paige told her about her vision about Leo being down here to save them, Piper hadn't been sure what to make of it. But now she was so desperate to get out of there that she didn't really care how, as long as they did.

She had to admit that she was a little fuzzy on how they were going to bust out. It couldn't be with magic since the cage was specifically designed to keep magic from leaving. It would have to be the old fashioned way. And that particular little detail wasn't exactly making Piper's confidence rise.

"Just follow Leo's lead. If it works, you'll be kicking yourself for not figuring it out first," Paige replied. The tone of her voice as she spoke helped Piper's confidence a little.

Only a little.

"If you say so. I would still feel a whole lot better about this whole thing if I knew just what this so-called plan actually was."

"I can't tell you," Paige whispered, lowering her voice even softer so that the guards couldn't hear their conversation. "We can't risk them finding out." She pointed to the three guards, who hadn't moved all day.

Piper shrugged. "As long as it gets us out of here, I really don't care."

Paige gave her a half-hearted smile and turned to face the front of the cage. "We shouldn't have to wait much longer."

Piper didn't say anything. She wanted to save all her strength for busting out of here. The more she dwelled on it, the harder she kicked herself for ever thinking that this trip to the Underworld would make a difference. It wasn't as though they would've found Phoebe anyway. If Cole wanted them hidden, they weren't going to be found. So far, everything about this trip was a complete waste, and she hated the feeling that went with that.

"Hey, who are-?" one of the guards stopped mid-sentence as some sort of dust fell on him. Piper saw it through the corner of her eye. When she turned she saw Leo, his hand held in the blow-a-kiss position with a guilty yet determined expression on his face.

"Leo," Piper began, but Leo held up a hand to stop her. She nodded in understanding. So far he had hit only one of the guards with the memory dust. He still had two guards to deal with. And, judging from their hardened expressions, they wouldn't be willing for him to do the same.

"Be careful," Piper said as she watched the two remaining guards begin circling her husband. She wished now more than ever that she had never gotten herself and Paige into this jam and put everyone's lives at risk. And it wasn't fair that she wasn't even able to use her powers to help him. If they got out of this, she decided that she would get him something special.

Leo took out some more memory dust from his pocket, watching the circling guards for an opportunity to use it without them throwing an energyball or fireball at him. He didn't have much of a defense; orbing out wasn't exactly the most active of all powers.

Somehow he managed to get one more guard in the face. Piper watched the two who had been hit in amusement. They went from fighting and dangerous to still and almost peaceful looking, waiting for Leo's order to forget that any of them were ever here.

The other guard wasn't being so easy to defeat. He had his hands up, ready to throw energyballs at him whenever he tried to get even remotely close enough to throw the dust in his face. Then Paige blurted out, "Leo, tell the others to bring him to you!"

Piper nodded encouragingly, and Leo did as Paige suggested. When the others brought over the strugging guard, Leo didn't waste any time in dusting him.

"You're going to open this cage. You're going to let Piper and Paige go. And you're going to forget they, and I, were ever here," Leo ordered them.

The three guards nodded and turned in unison to the cage door. The first one waved his hand to unlock it while the other two opened it, keeping the door wide enough that the sisters could easily fit through it.

"Thanks, Leo," Paige whispered once they were both out.

"Thank me when we get home. Right now we need to focus on getting out of here," Leo replied, ushering them both out of the cave and as far away as possible. Once they were all sure they were alone, Leo put a hand on each of the sisters' shoulders. Piper felt the familiar sensation of her body turning into bright white lights as Leo led them out of the Underworld and towards safety.

Once they materialized the the living room of the manor, they were greeted by a harrassed looking Prue, who was standing by the window with her arms crossed. Piper readied herself for a full-blown attack.

"What the hell were you two thinking?" Prue snapped in greeting.

Piper looked down, suddenly ashamed of her rash decision, but Paige was the one who defended it, much to her surprise. "We were thinking of trying to save Phoebe."

"At the expense of your lives?" Prue retorted instantly.

"But we had to do something. Cole has Phoebe, and the fact that she's evil doesn't matter. Not right now. No one deserves to be down in the Underworld. She's our sister. We couldn't just do nothing," Paige shot back.

She gave Piper an encouraging smile, probably to let her know that the fight that they'd had earlier was forgotten between them.

"Still, Paige. The least you could have done was tell me what you were doing. I think I deserved that much."

"It wasn't just Paige, Prue. In fact, it wasn't even her idea. I suggested we go down to the Underworld and try to find Phoebe. Sitting and waiting for an answer didn't feel right to me," Piper spoke up, earning another smile from Paige.

Prue sighed. "It's not that I don't think you guys did the right thing. I do. But not knowing where you guys were opened up some old wounds. Wounds that aren't exactly healed all the way."

Piper nodded and went over to give her older sister a hug. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I wasn't sure how you'd react. Forgive me?"

It only took Prue a second to nod and return Piper's hug. "Yes, I forgive you. But next time, tell me, okay?"

Piper nodded again, "Deal."

"Thanks for seeing me, doctor. I know I haven't been seeing you lately, but I didn't know who else to call."

Phoebe tried to keep down the trepidation she'd had ever since she'd 'orbed' up above ground with the Darklighter power she hadn't used since getting them to the doctor's office. Before she'd done that she went to a grocery store and bought a pregnancy test just to rule that possibility out. She'd done all the necessary steps, waited while the test processed, and saw the result. And now, an hour later, she was here, getting a second opinion.

"Well, Ms. Halliwell, I have your results right here. I can tell you myself or you can read the papers yourself," the doctor answered, gesturing to the papers he had in his hand.

"Just tell me," Phoebe ordered, deciding these kinds of things were best handled like a band-aid. It was best to rip it off at once, that way it was over and done with.

The doctor then smiled widely, and Phoebe slowly felt her hope escape her like car fumes. "You're pregnant."