AT BIANCA AND JACKSON'S…
"You alright?" Piper asked Phoebe as she held onto her arms for balance.
"Yeah, just… need to get my stress levels down. Ever since this young lady left the house, I've been feeling light headed on and off" Phoebe headed for the door.
"We can leave if this is too much"
"No. I won't do that to her. We'll get through this visit and go back to worrying for her back at home" Phoebe pulled Piper out of the bathroom and back into the dining room where everybody was waiting to serve dessert.
"Everything alright, mom?"
"Everything's fine, sweetie" Phoebe gave them a much friendlier smile. Jackson started to serve dessert.
"Hope you like it"
"I'm sure we will" said Phoebe still holding on to her smile and squeezing Coop's hand. "Piper has always wanted a restaurant of her own, maybe one day you'll have yours"
"Oh, no. I belong in the kitchen and having a restaurant involves a lot more skills than I can vouch for"
"He actually works in the restaurant down the street as the head chef" Bianca shared proudly.
"Oh, that's impressive" said Coop.
"That's one of the reasons we chose this place" Bianca went on.
"There weren't any restaurants hiring closer to home?" Phoebe smiled unintentionally going back to reproaching.
"Phoebe…" Piper started but Jackson cut her off as politely as he could.
"No real good positions actually, but… we also thought it might not be the best idea to live that close by"
"Why's that?" Phoebe went on putting her spoon down taking a deep breath, deciding to try harder at being OK with the situation.
"Well.."
"We didn't think we would have a real chance to be on our own if we lived at walking distance from home"
"I don't think…" Phoebe paused as she felt the room unsteadying beneath her feet again.
"Phoebe?" Piper asked holding her arm as she stood up once again. "Excuse us" she led her to the bathroom this time. After closing the door behind them, she put down the toilet seat and led Phoebe to sit down. "Honey, I think this visit might have been too soon. We'll excuse ourselves and we'll go home. I'll tell them Wyatt needs us"
Phoebe had her hands on either side of her head as if trying to stop the room from spinning. "I can't… how am I supposed to feel about the fact my daughter decided to get away from her family so her boyfriend could find a job he could have gotten in any restaurant that wasn't across town but didn't because we would be too inconvenient for them?" she said using all the air in her lungs, leaving her panting.
"OK. Listen to me" said Piper sitting on the edge of the tub to talk to her sister. "I don't… completely disagree with her"
"What?" Phoebe said hurt.
"Can you honestly say you wouldn't have dragged her butt back home if she had been within close range?"
"No" said Phoebe on automatic. "Maybe" she confessed to herself after a moment.
"And… even if you wouldn't have done that. Wouldn't you guys at least have visited a bit more than needed?"
"No" Phoebe whimpered not believing her own words. "Maybe. Still…"
"I know. It sucks. But we gotta remember that we ourselves needed space to grow one day" Piper held her hand. "She's got a good head on her shoulders. You gotta give her a real chance to use it"
"I know" Phoebe said as her eyes felt warmer and warmer. "I don't have to like it"
"Hell no" smiled Piper. "We just gotta keep it to ourselves until she's ready to hear it"
"OK. I just need to keep it together a bit longer"
"Right" said Piper reassuringly. Then, Phoebe sneezed and a second Phoebe jumped out of her body. "Gazuntite" she stared.
"Anything wrong?" asked a smiling Phoebe. "Can I get you a glass of lemonade? Jackson's lemonade is one of the best one's I've ever tried. No wonder my daughter loves to live with him" she chuckled.
"Umh…" Piper was at a loss for words. Neither Phoebe seemed to detect a problem with being two of them in the room.
"Would you knock it off? It wasn't that good. I could get better lemonade at the corner convenience store for less than a dollar" said an annoyed looking Phoebe.
"OK..." said Piper trying to get some sort of grip on the situation. "Have you been doing any spells lately? Any that might have backfired?"
"Not that I'm aware of. Backfired how though? I feel great" said positive Phoebe.
"Since when we need a reason for magic to come and bite us in the ass? This is what I meant by Jackson not being ready for this family"
"Oh, nonsense. He'll be as understanding as they come, you'll see"
"And if he's not? Will Bianca get it through her thick head or just move farther and farther away from us?"
"Oh, no. We couldn't take that, but I'm sure it won't happen"
"OK. You two. We gotta get you home. I'll call one of the boys" said Piper starting to dial. They only called out their names in case something really bad was going on. Kept the stress at bay somehow.
"Oh no, we won't bail on Bianca. This is very important to her. She wants to see we're OK with her being happy" positive Phoebe went for the door distracting Piper.
"Where you going?"
"To have some yummy dessert" she said as she left the room before Piper could catch her.
"We're clearly not OK with the prospect of our daughter abandoning us… and I don't mean just on the zip code"
Positive Phoebe arrived back at the table with a huge smile on her face, thrilled to have dessert made by her potential future son-in-law.
"Where were we? Where's my plate?" she extended her arms expectantly.
"Honey, you okay?" asked Coop under his breath.
"Peachy. Oh God, this is good!" she said digging right into her dessert. Coop and Leo exchanged concerned looks; Bianca smiled uncertain what was going on exactly; and Jackson had no idea of the underlining threat in the room, so he was delighted his potential mother-in-law loved his hot chocolate lasagna.
"Hope you like marshmallows"
"Oh my God, I love them! This an Oreo crust?" Jackson nodded happily. "That's it. I'm moving in with you guys" they chuckled best they could without giving away something was up.
Leo left the table in search for Piper. He knocked on the door and was instantly pulled in.
"What's go… what happened? There are two Phoebes"
"Thank you. Somehow I missed that" she paced in front of him. "She has this act for multiplying every time. So annoying!"
"Why is there an overly cheerful Phoebe at the table?"
"Because I couldn't catch her. She outran me"
"I don't feel like eating any more of his food. I think I've pretended enough and I'm out" said negative Phoebe. Leo stopped her on her tracks.
"Where are you going exactly?"
"To tell my husband he can stay and fake we're OK with this as much as he wants, but I'm going home"
"Wait. You can't go out there" Leo slightly panicked.
"Why not? I thought he was cool with the magic stuff" she air-quoted.
"Even if he is, this would be pushing it" said Piper. "I'm freaking out a little bit myself and it's not even the first time I've seem one of my sisters multiply"
"Call Wyatt" said Leo. "We need to orb them both out"
"Thought of that too, but how're we gonna explain this to Bianca or Jackson. Like the cheery Phoebe said, she needs this evening to go well"
"You're right. They might be able to reverse it even without her there, if they find out whose spell backfired"
"Wait. Where's the other Phoebe?" said a worried Piper. She and Leo had taken their eyes off her for a moment and now she was gone. They left the bathroom in a hurry. "Find her!" said Piper in a shouty whisper, running to the dining room to fetch the positive Phoebe in case the other one decided to show in the room.
"This is so good. I'm on my third plate and I don't even care. Want some?" she told Piper as she laid a hand on her shoulder.
"In a minute, would you come with me for a second?"
"Sure. Be right back honey" Phoebe blew a kiss to her daughter.
Just as Piper left the room with one, the other Phoebe decisively walked in towards her husband, closely followed by a nervous Leo.
"We're leaving" she said going for her coat.
"Is there something wrong?" Jackson said concerned.
"No. She… your sisters called" Leo tried to lie on the spot.
"Phoebe, what is this all about? I thought you were past that" said Coop weirded out.
"Past what exactly? That our daughter made the most important decision of her life without even telling us what was going on before running off? I mean, a little heads up, would have been nice… now we gotta pretend like she's done no foul? Like she didn't rip our hearts out and then asked us to come and smile and give her our blessing?" Bianca was in tears now, Jackson held on to her avoiding eye contact.
"This isn't the Phoebe I married to" said Coop. "The Phoebe I married would have tried to understand that. As much as this hurt us, it is her choice. She has a right to search for her own happiness even if that doesn't automatically mean ours" Piper froze Jackson as she came into the room with the other Phoebe.
"I think we better take care of this before it does any more damage" she said having heard everything.
"She's right. I want you to know, I really wanted to be here for you. I'm sorry this evening didn't turn out like you needed to, baby" positive Phoebe hugged her daughter, who, confused, hugged her back. "Take me home, honey" she came to hold Coop's hand, who was equally nonplused.
"Bianca, honey. Your mom really did want to be here for you. She didn't mean any of that" Bianca kept crying, trying to keep a straight face.
"Those thoughts had to come from somewhere, Aunt Piper"
"Please, give her a chance to explain after we fix this" Piper hugged her niece who nodded against her shoulder.
"I'll try" she added as she let her go. Coop came to kiss her forehead and then went back to negative Phoebe's side, while Piper led positive Phoebe out the door to keep the changes in the room to a minimum. She unfroze Jackson just before she exited the door.
The drive home was a quiet one even with an extra passenger on board. Plus, it seemed to take half the time it had taken to get there in the first place. They all went up to Phoebe and Coop's apartment to try and sort out the situation. Leo and Piper reassured them they would call on the boys to get to the BOS ASAP if need be. They had been trying to give Wyatt and Sam as much relaxing time as they could now the baby was coming soon.
As they entered one by one, Paddy and Praline came to greet them.
"Hey, Aunt Piper, Uncle Leo. You guys are back sooner than…whoah" said Praline as two of her mom walked in behind them.
"Oh sh…"
"Watch it!" said Coop and the two Phoebes at unison to their daughter Paddy. Praline instinctively slapped her sister's arm reproachingly.
"Got something to say?" Coop addressed them. His daughters exchanged guilty looks before Praline nudged Paddy to speak.
"We… we just wanted to help mom clear up her mixed feelings about our sister"
"You might have meant well, but your doings caused your sister and your parents a bitter moment" explained Piper, making the girls' stomach sink even deeper into shame.
"We didn't mean any harm" Praline added.
"Be that as it may, you have to understand magic. Even seemingly harmless one, comes with a great deal of responsibility" said Leo. Both girls nodded.
"How are we gonna reverse this?" said Coop unable to look at his daughters at the moment.
"Maybe we won't have to" said Piper leading Phoebe to sit on a couch side by side of herself, then led Coop to sit on the coffee table in front of them. "If what they meant was to clear her conflicting thoughts, maybe if she said everything she needs to, the spell would run its course and reverse itself"
"OK…" Coop swallowed hard, still upset from some of what negative Phoebe had said back at Bianca's. However magic was to blame, those thoughts had been in the real Phoebe bouncing inside her brain for a while now, and all of a sudden, he knew all the things she had chosen not to share with him. "How do you feel about Bianca's decision?" he stared to either versions of his wife, dreading what she had to say. He couldn't believe he was though. It wasn't in his nature not to trust love even for a moment, but his time as a human had taught him a thing or two, not all pleasant.
"I think it's great she's trying to spread her wings and be happy" said a still cheerful Phoebe.
"I don't agree she's willing to leave her family behind so easily" negative Phoebe jumped in as if indeed the mingling thought had come from the same mouth. Paddy and Praline exchanged looks once again, maybe their mom's and their own feelings weren't that different after all.
"That's not what she's doing!" Positive Phoebe argued with herself.
"She might if Jackson asks her to!"
"We can't stop her from ever being happy just because we're scared of what might happen. And even if we could, would we really want to be in the way of that?"
"No…" negative Phoebe started to flicker, distorting in and out of focus for a moment. "but just because she's in love now, doesn't mean this will be it for her. I was wrong more than once, wasn't I?"
"Yes, but it was because we strived to look for happiness over and over that we eventually found our way" positive Phoebe smiled at Coop who smiled in spite of himself.
"I just… don't wanna be the only one who's afraid she might be gone or that she might not want to be part of this family anymore…" negative Phoebe said in a darker undertone.
"Phoebe" Coop reached for her hand. "Sweetie, I'm so sorry if I ever made you feel like you were alone in this. I confess I… I have no idea how to deal with all these feelings that don't come as natural to me" he took a look at their daughters standing nearby and then he set his eyes back on Phoebe. "I do know in my heart that whatever decision she makes will be a step towards finding her own way and…" he chuckled nervously. "I'm every bit as terrified as you are of what that may be" Both Phoebes flickered more and more. "One thing that reassures me is that she got her mother's heart, so I know she'll never forget how much we love her and how much she means to us" Slowly, Phoebe flickered do rapidly she became just the one person on the couch. Coop hugged her tight and both their daughters went over to hug them too.
"We're so sorry you guys. We've been dealing with so much that we forgot to talk to you about what you're feeling about it too"
"We know, mom" said Praline
"Yeah, don't beat yourself up. We haven't exactly asked to discuss it either" said Paddy holding onto her parents. Praline held onto her lovingly.