Author's Note: Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. I love hearing what you think.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The panicked look on Phoebe's face wasn't going away. In fact, as she looked around at the people standing frozen around them, the expression was starting to get worse.
"Who are you?" she demanded, a hostile tone in her voice as she glared at Paige. "What did you do to all of these people?"
"Me?" Paige said, with a startled look around. "I didn't do this, Pheebs."
"Don't call me that," Phoebe snapped, jerking violently away from the hand that Paige laid on her arm. "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Paige Matthews," she told the clearly startled woman. "And, I know that this is going to sound a little bit crazy, but I'm your sister."
If she was expecting Phoebe to light up at her pronouncement, or show any kind of excitement, she was going to be sorely disappointed. Instead, Phoebe stared at her like she'd just sprouted another head, shock visible on her face.
"What did you say?" she demanded, incredulously.
"I'm your sister," Paige repeated, patiently.
"That's not possible," Phoebe said, flatly, and Paige scowled, inwardly. Phoebe was supposed to be the easy one to convince.
"Actually, it is," she told her. "See, when our mom had an affair with her Whitelighter-"
Her explanation was abruptly cut short by the arrival of a pair of men in impeccable white suits, and Paige shot the taller of the two an aggravated look as she stood up to confront them.
"It's about damn time," she said, before either of the men could say anything. "What? You froze everything, and then just decided not to show up?"
"We were unavoidably delayed," the shorter man said, in a haughty tone. "Not that our business is any of your concern-"
"Considering everything that's happened," Paige snapped, "I think your business is my concern."
"You dare-" the taller man began, incredulously, but Paige wasn't about to let him finish.
"If the two of you had been doing your jobs the first time around, my sisters wouldn't have even gotten into this mess!" she growled. "When Prue and Piper were exposed vanquishing Shax, you should have been there to stop it. This never should have gotten as far as it did!"
"What – how do you know about Prue and Piper?" Phoebe demanded, but Paige was still focused on the Cleaners standing in front of her.
"Your purpose," she said, stabbing her finger into the taller man's chest, "your whole reason for being, is to cover up the exposure of magic. So, what the hell happened, last week? Where the hell were you?"
"We were created in response to the incident with the demon, Shax," the shorter Cleaner spoke up, and Paige looked over at him in surprise.
"Oh," was all she could think to say. "Well, that makes sense."
"The Elders decided that they could not risk another exposure of magic like that one," the taller Cleaner told her. "So they, along with several powerful demons, created us, and others, to deal with potential magical messes. Although, how you know about us, when only very few are aware we exist-"
"I've had dealings with you, before," Paige told them, to the men's surprised looks. "In another time; you wouldn't know about it."
"Well," the taller man said, a wry smile on his lips, "if you're done lecturing us, I believe we have a job to do, here."
"Yeah, sure, sorry," Paige said, apologetically. "Hey, could you unfreeze my husband for a second? I need to talk to him."
The shorter of the Cleaners huffed out an impatient sigh, but a quick wave of his hand had Henry staggering where he was standing, a startled look on his face. Seeing Paige, he hurried to her side, questions in his eyes.
"Honey, what's going on?" he asked, carefully, as he reached her side. "What's with the Mr. Clean team?"
"They're on our side," Paige reassured him. "Kind of. It's complicated."
"Everything is complicated, these days," Henry told her.
"You knew that when you married me," Paige reminded him, teasingly. "So, as you can see, Phoebe is back-"
"I see that," Henry replied. "Nice to see you safe, Phoebe. Love the hair."
"Anyway," Paige went on, interrupting him, "I'm going to get them out of here," she added, with a gesture that included the frozen Leo and Cole in her statement, "and the Cleaners are going to erase people's memories of seeing magic."
"Going back to the Manor?" Henry asked.
"Too far," Paige said, looking down at the frozen men, critically. "Once the Cleaners unfreeze everything, Leo and Cole are back to being in really bad shape. I need to get them healed, now."
Looking around for a place where they might be able to hide, she spotted a tent about a hundred yards away with a very familiar stylized symbol on the back.
"There," she said, pointing. "That tent with the Evil Eye."
"And you don't think the people inside are going to be a little suspicious of you appearing out of thin air?" Henry asked, skeptically.
"Madame Theresa will be fine," Paige said, hoping that her hastily-returned and somewhat hazy memories weren't playing tricks on her. "I'm more worried about Leo and Cole, right now."
"Right," Henry said. Leaning forward, he kissed her quickly and pulled away with, "Be careful."
"Always," Paige promised him.
As Henry moved back to where he'd been originally standing, Paige turned her attention back to Phoebe. Her sister had a deeply suspicious look on her face as she eyed Paige and the Cleaners.
"Who are you people?" she demanded, a little hysterically, which Paige figured was normal considering everything that had happened.
"I told you-" she started, and Phoebe cut her off with a disbelieving snort.
"Like I'm going to believe that," she said, scornfully, and Paige had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.
"I take it you're the one who shimmered everyone out of the Underworld?" she asked, instead, and Phoebe nodded warily.
"I switched powers with Cole," she began, but then she clamped down on the rest of her sentence, glaring at Paige.
"Can you get Cole to that tent over there?" Paige asked, nodding at Madame Theresa's tent. "I'll be right behind you with Leo."
"I'm not trusting you with him," Phoebe snapped, and Paige could see the beginnings of an energy ball forming at her fingertips as she hovered protectively over the injured Whitelighter.
Heaving an exasperated sigh, Paige grabbed Phoebe's wrist, startling her enough that the energy ball fizzled out before it had really formed.
"I'm not here to get into a pissing contest with you," she forced out between gritted teeth, her voice low so that Phoebe had to concentrate on her. "I am trying to protect my family. Now, will you please shimmer Cole into the tent so that we can get off the street?"
Phoebe stared at her for several seconds without backing down, and Paige was ready to grab all three of them and try orbing, anyway, just to get things moving. But, the taller Cleaner solved her problem for her, making Phoebe disappear with a wave of his hand.
"Thanks," Paige told him, but the man just looked impassively at her.
"Are you going to get on with it?" he asked, in a bored tone.
This time she did roll her eyes as she crouched down beside Leo and gripped his hand in hers. Then, just like she'd done when she healed Sam, she closed her eyes and focused on channeling his power. Orbing, this time, and a second later, she could literally feel herself start to disappear.
She was weightless for a heartbeat, and then the world came crashing back down on her as she reformed on the floor of the tent. Shaking her head to clear away the dizzy feeling, Paige steadied herself to keep from falling over.
As her head cleared, she looked around the tent. Madame Theresa was standing in front of the curtain that divided the front of the tent from the back, and there was a curious expression on the older woman's face. Before Paige could say anything, she ducked out of sight, returning a few seconds later with a first aid kit in her hands.
"To what do I owe the honor of a visit from Whitelighters?" she asked, her quiet voice melodic as she started treating Cole's wounds.
"Refuge, mostly," Paige answered, not correcting her misassumption. "I'm sorry for bursting in on you like this, but there was nowhere else that we could go."
Turning her attention back to Leo, Paige took a deep breath and squeezed that hand that she still held between her own. Then, focusing, she started healing his injuries, watching in satisfaction as the wounds slowly started to knit together. His injuries healed completely, not even leaving scars, and Paige grinned in triumph when Leo opened his eyes and sat up.
"What happened?" he asked, looking around. "Phoebe, where are we?"
"Ask Little Miss Know-It-All, there," Phoebe snapped, jerking her head in Paige's direction. "She seems to have all the answers."
"It's a long story," Paige said, when Leo looked at her, quizzically. "And, I will explain everything in time. But, first we need to heal Cole."
"He's half demon," Leo protested, even as he stood up and moved to the other man's side. "I can only heal his human half."
"Well," Paige said, "I'm half Whitelighter, and that should offset his demon half."
Leo looked like he was thinking about it for a few moments, and then he nodded.
"I guess it would work," he said, skeptically. "I mean, I've never tried anything like it."
"First time for everything," Paige told him, holding out her hand for Leo to take. "For you, anyway," she added, thinking about it. "Shall we?"
Leo took her proffered hand, but before they started, Paige dug in her pocket for her cell phone and tossed it to Phoebe.
"Call Piper and tell her that you're okay," she told her confused sister. "She's number two on my speed dial."
Then, she and Leo held their free hands over Cole's wounds. She relaxed, letting Leo take control of the healing, and slowly, Cole's injuries started to disappear. When he opened his eyes, groggily, Paige grinned and hugged a clearly startled Leo.
"We did it," she crowed in triumph.
Then, her attention was caught by Phoebe, who was still clutching her cell phone to her ear, talking quietly. Phoebe looked distressed about something, and she kept shooting Paige suspicious little glares as she talked. Then, without warning, she reached out and grabbed Cole's shoulder, shimmering them both away.
Paige stared at the spot where Phoebe had been standing, aware that she was gaping in stunned disbelief.
"That was my phone," she said, flatly.