"Baby's sleeping." She sighed happily.
"How was your day?" asked Cole putting his arm around her.
"My job interview went great. I think I got it."
"This calls for celebration." He put down the paper and put his other arm around her waist.
"Ice-cream!" she laughed.
"Later then." He kissed her on the forehead.
"And how was your day?" she asked snuggling into his chest.
"My boss fired my secretary. He said he's already got a new one lined up for me. I'm going to meet her tomorrow." He replied.
"Is that good or bad?" asked Phoebe looking up at him.
"Well," he sighed, "She was good at what she did. Then again, she was a really big bitch."
"Bitter-sweet." Phoebe smiled, "My favorite kind of chocolate."
"Whoever said that girls were made of sugar and spice and all things nice, he must have been doped up." Cole laughed, "I have yet to find a girl with such qualities." Phoebe pushed him down on the couch so that she was on top of him.
"Well," she whispered, "That is irrelevant because you fell in love with me," she kissed his neck, "and I for one am half the sugar, twice the spice." She kissed him again. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. The baby started crying.
"Hold that thought." She put her finger on his mouth and levitating off the couch. "I have to go feed the baby." She landed silently.
"Can I watch." He gave her a shy smile.
"Whatever makes you happy." She kissed him again. And once again the baby cried. She reluctantly pulled away, "It's like radar," she sighed, "Oh look, mom and dad are happy. Better start crying." Cole laughed and followed her up the stairs. As they reached the top of the stairs Leo orbed in, practically landing on Phoebe, who fell back. Luckily Cole caught her. He held her in a dip for a while smiling.
"My hero." She kissed him passionately. Leo waited patiently for the kiss to end, but it didn't so he very politely cleared his throat.
"Ahem…"
"Oh sorry Leo," Said Phoebe in an overly cute voice. Cole lifted Phoebe to her feet.
"Sorry." He said straightening his shirt, "Forgot you were there."
"No problem." Leo said distractedly "Have you guys see Piper anywhere?"
"Can't say I have." Said Cole frowning, "Why, is something wrong?"
"No, no. I just wanted to see her. I got the day off today and wanted to spend some time with her.
"She's at the mall with Prue, her car is in the shop so I was just going to pick them up after I fed the baby."
"How about Leo feeds the baby and we go get you sisters." Said Cole cocking an eyebrow. Phoebe smiled. Before Leo could respond, Phoebe said quickly:
"Formula is in the fridge, warm it up for ten seconds on high see ya chow." She ran down the stairs and out the front door with Cole I close pursuit.
************
Phoebe sat in the back seat with Prue. "I still don't see why we couldn't orb there and back home."
"Think a little, Phoebe! For gods sake, if we would have been caught…"
"Geez," Phoebe sighed, "What's up your ass?"
"A little annoying bug name Phoebe who doesn't seem to grasp what would happen if we got caught."
"Well this little bug knows exactly what would happen if she were caught orbing and thinks that it certainly beats being stuck in the backseat with the all mighty Prue Halliwell. Although I'm sure any boy in this city would strongly disagree!" Prue looked at Phoebe in awe before slapping her hard across the face. Phoebe of course hit back and before anybody knew what was happening, Phoebe and Prue were engaged in an all out cat fight. Cole pulled the car to the side of the road. "Girls, girls. Please. Watch the leather. Phoebe stop that. Don't make me come back there. Phoebe Halliwell if I have to come back there so help me god I will take you right-"
"EWWWW!" Piper yelled, "Cole. Whatever you and Phoebe do in the bedroom stays in the bedroom!" At this comment the fighting stopped. Cole gave Piper a weird look.
"Actually what I was going to say, had you not interrupted me, is that I would take her right home without stopping for ice cream. But uh, what ever you say Piper." He started the car up again. Piper was blushing a deep red for the whole ride home.
As Phoebe opened the door she looked round. Not finding Leo she called out his name. He orbed right next to her, knocking her over. "Oh sorry," he said picking her up, "Been doing a lot of that lately."
"Leo you need to talk to your wife! She was having gross thoughts about Cole and me. Yuck, yuck, yuck!" she put her things down on the table, "Cole, I'm having a shower." She called,
"Be right up." Came Cole's excited voice.
"I wonder why." Leo sighed sarcastically and orbed out again. Cole glared at the air where Leo had been moments before.
" Just because his bedroom activities are somewhat fewer than ours that by no means gives him the right to criticize us!" He said in an angry voice. Piper walked up to him and started to point her finger but thought better of it. She put her hands in her pocket and looked at him.
" Excuse me mister I don't think you'd know what goes on in my room and if you did then you would change your answer ASAP!" She said in a fake parent voice. " And I mean it!" Cole shrugged and studied the pattern on the curtain. A sound of running water indicated that Phoebe had started the shower.
"Well," he smiled putting down the cup of coffee he had been drinking, "That's me." he shimmered upstairs. The front door slammed as Prue entered the kitchen with the newspaper under her arm.
"That little witch!" she grumbled, " She thinks she so hot because that Cole character can't keep it in his pants." Piper looked at Prue shocked.
"That Cole character has saved our butts more than his fair share." Piper said chopping some cucumbers and putting them into the salad she had been working on. Prue sighed.
"And he also tried to kill us Piper, numerous times." She slammed down the newspaper and stormed out of the room. Piper watched her storm up the stairs and bang on the bathroom door.
"The rest of us would like to use the bathroom this millenium!" before waiting for an answer, Prue stormed down the hallway and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Phoebe and Cole emerged from the bathroom looking slightly annoyed.
"Piper," called Phoebe, "Me and Cole are going to-erm- dry off." She giggled before following Cole into her bedroom and locking the door.
"Dinner's at six!" Piper yelled. Cole looked at Phoebe who was changing into a robe. He looked at a clock.
"Okay, we have about ten minutes, either we go really fast or we wait till later." He smiled mischievously.
"You know what?" asked Phoebe sitting down on the edge of the bed and crossing her legs sexily. Cole cocked and eyebrow.
"What?" he asked taking the towel off and reaching for a robe.
"You know what we haven't done since, like forever?" she wasn't going to tell him, yet. He walked towards the bed and put the robe on. In a mock father tone said:
"Young lady, you better tell me right this moment or ells!" Phoebe laughed at this. Cole started laughing as well.
"Or ells what?" she leaned back on her elbows. Cole walked over and lay down beside her.
"You're grounded. Yes, you're grounded. You don't leave the bedroom. In fact, you don't leave the bed! Mwa ha ha ha." Phoebe pouted.
"You know what we haven't done in a long time? We haven't gone on a date. I mean a really romantic one." Cole cocked his eyebrow, an old habit of his, he usually did this when he got excited.
"Sounds good." He rolled over and kissed her. Phoebe pulled away reluctantly as she heard Piper calling them downstairs for dinner.
" Can we take a rain check?!" called Cole, "We're going out tonight." Phoebe wrapped her arms around Cole. He leaned on for a kiss, but none came. He pulled his head back and looked at her.
"What, no kiss?" he smiled, half disappointed. Phoebe giggled and rolled off the bed. He looked down on her and laughed, offering his hand. She took it and pulled herself up. She played with the collar of his robe.
"Date now, kiss later." She smiled, then pushed away quickly. "Now, we have to get changed. What to wear…what to wear." She sighed, going through her closet. Cole came up behind her and put his arms around her waist.
"The question is… where to go." He said. Phoebe melted into his arms. She wondered how he made everything he said sound so incredibly sexy. She sifted through her clothes before finding the perfect dress. Small, black, tight and not too fancy, but not too skimpy. She turned triumphantly to Cole, showing him the dress. He smiled, trying to imagine what it would look like on her.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Piper set the table for three people. She looked up at Phoebe's room and sighed. They had been seeing less and less of Phoebe, and even though Prue hated to admit it, she missed her too. Piper was beginning to worry. It wasn't healthy for Phoebe to be so busy. She hardly ever took a moment to sit down with the family. And even if she did, moments later she would be swept off her feet by Cole.
Leo orbed in next to Piper, taking her bye surprise. She jumped and the bowl full of spaghetti that she had been holding went flying in the air, ultimately landing on Leo's head. She tried not to laugh (hard) as Leo wiped the sauce off of his face and out of his hair. Piper finally went into hysterics as a noodle fell from the top of his head and onto his nose. Leo, however, didn't find it funny at all and in fact he got slightly upset and grabbed a bowl of Caesar salad and dumped it on her head. Piper gasped. She looked around for the perfect weapon. Then she remembered the lemon marang pie she had made for desert. Running to the fridge she grabbed it and took of the plastic wrap. She turned around to see Leo standing behind her. "Piper, you don't want to do that." He smiled nervously. Piper giggled and slammed the pie into his face.
"Yes. I. Do." She laughed as Leo chased her through the house, finally catching her bye the waist. Cole and Phoebe made their way downstairs and gave Piper and Leo strange looks.
Piper giggled mischievously. "Um… we're going to go have a shower." With that they orbed out. Cole shrugged and shimmered (with phoebe) into the car.
"This is great." sighed Phoebe happily as she took another sip of wine. She leaned in and kissed Cole softly. "I have to take a trip to the little girls room."
"Awwww." Cole frowned. "Well hurry up, I'll order the munchies." Phoebe grabbed her purse, flashed Cole a sexy grin and headed towards the washrooms.
On her way back, a man in crutches stopped her.
"Excuse me, miss. But I came here after work, so I have my brief case here, and I can't carry it back to my car."
"How did you carry it here in the first case?" Phoebe inquired. The man stiffened.
"Um, my girlfriend carried it… but she left." Phoebe felt bad for the gimp, so she smiled sweetly.
"Sure." She said. The man looked extremely relieved, and showed her where it was. She followed him out to the parking lot.
"My car is the little red one right there." He pointed at a small red jaguar. Phoebe walked over to the car and, under the man's supervision, opened the trunk and ducked into the car, placing the brief case in the back. She turned to leave but found herself facing down the barrel of long riffle. The man's crutches were discarded and he snorted at her. She remained still, not wanting to get shot. The man nodded towards the passenger seat. Phoebe obliged, taking note of the license plate number. The man struck her across the face with the gun.
"Don't bother," he said gruffly, "It's stolen. I rather hate this part, but I can't have you seeing where we're going so-" He took the butt of the riffle and cracked it across the side of her head, rendering her unconscious.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Cole looked at his watch. Phoebe had been gone for…. 25 minutes? He decided to check the front desk, maybe there had been a family emergency. He walked up to the man at the desk. " Has a young women in a small black dress, with blond hair pulled back um, she's twenty five, well anyways, have you seen her?" The man at the front desk smiled.
"Oh yeah." He said slyly, "I saw definitely saw her." Cole was angered by his smug attitude. It was obvious that she was with Cole. "She was helping a man with crutches about, um…15 minutes ago. She went out to the parking lot, but she hasn't returned yet." Cole's mouth went dry. He knew something was wrong. He went out into the parking lot, searching frantically for a sign that Phoebe had been there. Finally he saw it. Her scarf. It had a few spots of blood on it (from when she had been whacked across the face). He ran back into the restaurant and paid for the munchies and ran out to the car. Driving to the Halliwell was nerve racking. He felt he couldn't there fast enough. Once home, he parked the car and quickly shimmered into the living room.
"Piper! Prue! Leo!" he called. Only Prue came when he called. She had hear a note of panic in his voice, something that was very rare for Cole. When she saw the Phoebe wasn't with him. She stopped and stared at the scarf with the blood on it.
"What happened?" she asked, not really wanting to know. Cole swallowed hard.
"I don't know." Was all he could say. Prue looked at him in amazement.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Cole sat down and cupped his head in his hands.
"She apparently was helping some guy. And then she disappeared. I couldn't sense any demonic residue, so if there was foul play, it was a human."
"There is blood, on her scarf. I think there was foul play!" Prue thundered. "How do we know she's not dead? How do we know she isn't dumped in a ditch dying?"
"She's not dead. I would have been able to smell it." Cole sighed. "Where is Leo?"
"With Piper, in the shower." Prue said angrily.
"Still?" Cole questioned.
"I'll go get them." Said Prue walking up the stairs. She moved mechanically, her whole body was stiff. She was so worried about Phoebe. She knew that most humans, who did this, they did it at random, for no point. Kidnap a person for no reason and kill them. Sometimes mutilate them. They were impersonal. At least with evil, there was always had a motive. A plan that the sister's could hack. She had no idea where Phoebe was, or what was happening. She didn't even know where to start…
Prue reached the top of the stairs and knocked on the door loudly. The water stopped.
"What?" came Piper's annoyed voice.
"Family emergency." Prue said angrily, "Get you butts downstairs." With that Prue stalked downstairs and sat down beside Cole. They sat there in silence for about 15 minutes before Leo and Piper orbed into the room. Prue looked up angrily.
"Well look who's finally decided to grace us with their presence." She said in a flat tone. Piper realized at once that Phoebe wasn't there.
"Where's Phoebe?" she asked looking at Cole and Prue. Cole related the whole story. Piper plopped down into the chair. "So we have no idea where she is?"
"Nope." Cole got up and started pacing. Leo didn't want to say anything, but he was extremely worried.
"I'll go ask the elders." He suggested, "You guys try scrying." With that he orbed out. Piper went and got a map of the city and the crystal.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Phoebe came too in what seemed like a small shack. She trie
" To get right to the point, I am going to rape you, and kill you. If you resist, you will soon wish you hadn't. You have every right to be terrified, but this is inevitable. don't scream please. I hate it when that happens. No one will hear you, it's just that I hate the sound." With that he kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth. She tried to pull away but he persisted. After what seemed like an eternity, he stopped. Phoebe took this as a chance to ask him something.
"I have a tiny question to ask you." She said, then continued before waiting for an answer. "What, does a man who looks like you need help getting action?" she asked. Then added, "Not that I would give you action." He laughed.
"I hate commitment. If I have sex with a girl, two days later she's obsessed with me. she wants me to date her. The whole situation gets messy. This way, I ca have I one night stand and not worry about you tomorrow." He kissed her again, this time he touched her, feeling her. Phoebe bit his lip. He pulled away and wiped the blood off his lip and backhanded her across the face, causing her lip to bleed. She screamed. Not out of pain, but out of hate for this man. He punched her in the stomach, causing her to lose her breath and stop screaming. He sighed angrily and looked at her.
"If I want to really get down to business, I have to untie you. But you have to promise that you won't run away. If you do, I'll make you a verrry sorry girl." He was talking to her like a child, but all she could do was nod. He untied her hands and ankles and led her over to a makeshift bed in a small bedroom. He shoved he into the room and locked the door from the outside, leaving Phoebe in complete darkness. There were no windows or furniture except the bed. She lay down with her eyes closed and waited, in total fear.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Leo Orbed back into the manor. Prue got up off the couch and went over to him.
"So what's the plan?" She asked looking at Leo.
"We sit here." Leo said angrily. Prue thought she had heard him wrong.
"Excuse me, what?"
"They said that what ever happens is for the greater good. That we shouldn't interfere." Piper looked at him in awe.
"Will she die?"
"They won't say."
"Well, we've broken the rules before." Said Prue pacing, "We can break them now." Leo shook his head.
"They told me that if we interfere I'll be called back. We will never see each other again, Piper. You won't get another one."
"So we stay?" asked Cole, who had been listening silently at the other end of the room.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The man got out of bed. "Get your clothes on, slut." He said gruffly, zipping up his pants. Phoebe's whole body burned immensely. She never thought someone could thrust so hard and fast. It was like she had torn everything that could be torn"On second thought…" he grabbed Phoebe's wrist and dragged her into the bathroom. "Take a shower. I don't want any evidence against me." he flashed a flashlight on her and watched her shower. Making sure she had washed away any evidence against him. "I suppose you want to know who killed you then. I owe you at least that. My name is Charlie Brockton. I am only telling you this because…well frankly, dead people don't talk." He pulled her out of the shower.
'So this is how it is going to end." Phoebe thought to herself, 'in a shack in who- knows- where after being… raped bye a stranger who is about to kill me with an old riffle.' The man grabbed her by the hair and threw her onto the living room floor and took a bottle of vodka off the table. He raised it into the air. "To you and your pathetic life." he drank…again and again and again until the entire bottle was downed. He grabbed the riffle off the wall and stumbled over, pointing at Phoebe. "Any lass wors?" he asked, his voice slurred. Phoebe shook her head, but in her mind she kept repeating the words: I love you guys' obviously to Leo, Cole Prue and Piper. There was a large BANG and Phoebe felt a searing pain in her… Leg? Charlie had been so drunk, he had missed any vital parts of her body. Phoebe screamed in pain and fell to the floor, banging her head and landing unconscious on the floor. Charlie squinted his eyes but his vision was extremely blurred. He assumed he had killed Phoebe and wrapped the body in a shower curtain, throwing her into the bush and driving away.
Phoebe cane two hours later and was so stunned that she was alive, that she forgot that she had in fact been shot and beaten (which had happened during the rape) and tried to get up but fell to the ground as she was reminded by an intense pain that she still had a bullet in her knee, in fact, several. She dragged herself out of the bush and on to the street, throwing rocks at the cars that passed bye (which were few and far between). Finally a very angry trucker pulled the car o the side of the road. "Who's there?" he called in a gruff voice. Phoebe threw yet another rock, hitting the man in the leg. "I'm warning you!" he called. Phoebe kept on throwing rocks until the man started following them and found her. When he saw Phoebe, naked exvept for the curtain, beaten badley and bleeding heavily from the knee and a large gash on her throat (caused by a stick in the bush she had been thrown into) he picked her up and carried her to the truck. He drove quickly to the hospital…
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Leo sat on the floor with Piper. Cole was in a large armchair and Prue was sleeping on the couch. Cole Leo and Piper looked almost hypnotized bye the flames of the fire in the fireplace that Cole had started. Leo looked over at Piper and watched as a tear fell down her cheek, then another. He wiped them away with a kiss but Piper pushed him away angrily.
"How can you think about sex at a time like this!?" she screamed, knowing that Leo had no thoughts of sex. She just needed to scream. She needed somewhere to direct all her anger, all her hurt. Leo put his arm around her soothingly. She rested her head on his shoulder.
Cole watched them. He desperately wanted a shoulder to cry on. He felt alone. He never wanted to feel like this again, he was empty without Phoebe. He wanted her back. Suddenly the Phone rang. Piper got up lazily and answered it.
"Hello, Halliwell residence. Speaking. OH my god, is she okay? I see. We'll be right over." She hung up the phone and ran into the living room, kicking Leo, who had fallen asleep. "Leo!! That was the hospital. Phoebe is there they want us to go over and talk to them. She'll be in surgery for a couple more hours.
Cole sat in the hospital room beside Phoebe's bed. He looked at her sleeping. Even in sleep, she cried. He brushed the hair out of her face and wondered if she would ever be the same. Would she trust anybody? He wished he could take all the pain away. He wished he could know that everything would be all right. Phoebe woke up and blinked her eyes, brushing away the tears. He bent down and embraced her, letting her cry on his shoulder. He even felt a tear running down his cheek! Phoebe fell back onto the bed. She looked up at him.
"Phoebe, I love you." He whispered. Deryl entered the room and looked at Phoebe.
"How are you?" she smiled looking up at him. Deryl looked at her, wondering how she could smile after what she had been through.
"Thanks to your testimony, old Charlie will be put away for a long time. The families of twenty girls will finally find peace." He smiled. "I just hope you will." With that he left the room. Leo orbed in and went over to Phoebe. He looked at her and almost turned away. She was covered with cuts and bruises and her throat had 12 stitches. The gash on her head had 20. Phoebe smiled at Leo. "When we get home, you are going to heal me, right?" she asked. Leo smiled back.
"Yep. The elders wanted to thank you for everything. They have wanted that guy behind bars for a while. When he caught you, they figured this was the perfect chance. They knew you would testify, although for a minute they thought he was going to kill you." He said. He walked over to the side of the bed and kissed her on the forehead, then orbed back out.
"Cole?" Phoebe looked up at him.
"Yes?"
"I love you too."
THE END
