Chapter two…Ghosts
"So who is Charlie?" Cole asked as he drove Phoebe home.
"An old acquaintance from New York." Phoebe answered a little too quickly as if it had been planned. Cole didn't buy it, and he couldn't help but notice how she sat hugging herself; how her fingers unconsciously trailed across the area his fingers had explored earlier that morning. He had no doubt now where that almost invisible scar had come from.
"Ok then…what about your scar?" he said gesturing toward her moving fingers. She drew her hand back as if she'd been burned.
"Appendectomy when I was ten." Once again a little too quickly for believability.
Cole pulled the car to the side of the road and sought her eyes. When he finally found them the feelings he saw in them caught him off guard. They pleaded with him to let it be. He turned away wishing she wouldn't distance herself, wondering if she'd have told him had it not been for his darker half, and hoping that it really wasn't anything important but knowing all the same that it was.
They rode the rest of the way in silence. Phoebe pondering her problem and Cole stewing over the roadblocks. When they reached the manor he helped her out of the car and walked her to the porch where a box of flowers had been left with a note address to her: I'm sorry. I love you. Come back to me. Charlie. She threw the flowers out and burned the note. Cole followed silently, knowing that when she was finished, she'd need him. As the last of the ashes burned out he turned to her.
"Just an acquaintance huh?" Cole asked wrapping his arms around her waist as he dared for the first time to touch her since they had fallen into silence. She turned toward him as the tears started to fall. Watching as each dewdrop fell across her flawless face he pulled her closer then picked her up. "Tell me later." He urged as he carried her to the couch where she fell asleep in his arms.
"I don't like it Leo." Piper stated clearly. " Who is he? Why didn't she tell us about him? After Clay came back she told us all about her life in New York but she left Charlie out. You saw how she acted when I said 'Charlie' I thought she'd…I'm scared Leo." Piper finished. Leo knew how she felt but he had better reason to.
"I'm sure she'll tell us when the time is right." He offered, knowing that he'd have to talk to her about it when they got home.
"I don't know if I can do this." Piper said quietly. Leo walked over to his wife and wrapped her in his arms.
"Do what?" he asked.
"Be Prue." Leo hugged her tighter knowing that of both sisters Piper felt more responsible for fixing things. He knew that Piper felt she had to take Prue's place as the responsible one; it was just she had never admitted it before.
"You don't have to." He said just as softly.
"No Leo. I do." She said pulling away and starting to pace. "Some one has to. We can't continue without someone like her to lead us. We need her so I have to be as much her as possible. Don't you understand?" For the first time she let the emotions out. Leo stopped her nervous pacing by wrapping her in his arms.
"Piper honey, you are strong. You have always been the sensible one. You have always been the strong one. You can do this. Prue isn't here now that is true. But you don't need her. All you need is right here." He said pointing at her heart. "You have me and Phoebe and even Cole. We will be here for you. But you need to see what I see. You need to see the woman who started her own club, who brought her sisters back together, who always believed in her heart that no matter what happened things could be fixed, who believed in everyone, and who kept the family together. Do you think Prue could have done it without you Piper? Phoebe needs you now Piper, she doesn't need Prue. Prue is gone and she will be missed. But it is time to move on."
"Help me Leo. Help me see this woman because right now all I see is…well it's not the person you see." Leo kissed her then.
"I know. But you will see her. I promise."
Phoebe woke up in her room. It was morning and the sun was just peaking through her window. She turned to look at her clock and found Cole sitting in a chair next to the bed like a loyal puppy watching his owner. Phoebe found his hand and kissed it. At least this time she wouldn't have to go through it alone. Cole's eyes fluttered but didn't open so she held his hand and watched him as he slept, something she secretly loved doing.
Piper and Leo were talking quietly in the hall outside her door and Phoebe remembered that she had left Piper alone to handle inventory and the man from the paper. Feelings of guilt started to cloud her mind and heart. She shouldn't have let Charlie control her like that. She thought she was done with Charlie controlling her life. He didn't even have to be here and he was still making her do things she regretted. She thought she'd gone through this already.
"Hey. You ok?" Cole's question surprised her she hadn't noticed that he was awake. Phoebe gave him a bright smile and squeezed his hand.
"I will be." She offered.
"Come here." Cole said pulling on her arm gently. Phoebe found herself sitting in his lap and was glad she had let someone in.
She remembered when cupid himself told her that she had to let someone in. Things had been different then. Charlie had still been too fresh.
Cole had restored her faith, odd as it was. If anything he should have been the one to make her close herself off, but he wasn't. He had taught her that loving sometimes meant losing, but losing never meant that you stopped loving. With all that they had been through he had shown her that true love knows no boundaries and follows no rules, it doesn't discriminate and it can't be controlled.
Truthfully she couldn't imagine life without him.
Learning to love again hadn't come easy. It had been trial and error the whole way and it wasn't over yet.
But if she blamed Charlie for hurting her so much she also had to thank him for giving her a new beginning. She had to thank him for Clay and Julie. But mostly she had to thank him for Ethan.
She missed Ethan the most. She still cried over him. She still remembered holding him long into the night and kissing him goodbye. She still remembered how he had clung to her so tightly and hadn't wanted her to go. The pain in his eyes still haunted her dreams sometimes. Their relationship had been so pure, so magical. Phoebe hoped that Julie could make him happy.
Cole pulled her closer. No, she was glad she had Ethan for the time that she did, and she was glad that Charlie had given her Ethan and Clay and Julie. Even if he had to destroy so much to give her that.
"Phoebe you have to tell them." Leo urged the stubborn youngest Halliwell.
"Why? There's nothing they can do about it. It's my mess and I have to clean it up." Phoebe answered defiantly. It was later that afternoon. Piper was out running some errands and Cole had left to go wherever he went when he wasn't with them. Leo had cornered Phoebe to have the conversation that each dreaded.
"They can help you Phoebe. We can help you. It wasn't your fault and Charlie isn't someone you should be trying to handle on your own. Last time…"
"I know. I know. How can you think that I don't? I remember Charlie and I remember Ethan and Clay and Julie. And 'last time' will always be burned into my mind try as I may to forget it. Right now though Leo I need you to be my supportive brother-in-law not my guiding white-lighter. I need you to act like you don't know the whole story. I'm truly grateful for all the help you have given me so far with this particular problem but I can't deal with this just yet. Please Leo. Let's just forget about this." Phoebe begged.
"He won't go away Phoebe. You and I both know that. And ignoring him will just make him mad…" phoebe cut him off.
"…And when he's mad he's dangerous. But he doesn't know where I am." She argued.
"How did he get the number Phoebe and what about the flowers? He does know where you are." Phoebe ignored him.
"I'm fine. I'll be fine. Stop worrying. You and Piper are two peas in a pod you know that don't you?" with that she walked out the front door. She was meeting Cole for lunch and then they were going to find him an apartment.
A man watched from behind the bushes. When he was sure that Phoebe couldn't run for help he grabbed her from behind.
"You never called me back." He said twisting her arm painfully.
"Please Charlie…let go." Phoebe pleaded. She knew how to play this game. She'd done it enough. She didn't struggle it would just make him mad and he was mad enough for her right now. "Charlie please…I'll do whatever you want." She continued. Something about him always made her feel helpless and vulnerable. He had a way of making her feel like she needed to be rescued, like an innocent victim. The fact that he had made her feel so innocent was what had originally drawn her to him but soon the innocence turned to helplessness and fear.
Charlie let his hand wander and Phoebe cringed in embarrassment.
"Anything?" he asked noticing her cringe he threw her away from him into a parked car, like she had burned him. He grabbed her by the jaw and yanked her back to him roughly. "You used to like that." He slipped his hand under her shirt and traced her scar with his dirty fingers. "Remember when we used to…" a large truck drove by drowning out his next few words. "…You couldn't get enough then." His fingers still played along the scar as if threatening her. Truthfully she hadn't liked it, she'd only done what he asked because she had quickly learned that to fail to do so would result in injury.
He let go of her jaw and grabbed her wrist. With his free hand he produced a knife and placing the blade along her cheek he asked:
"Where's Ethan?"
"I don't know." She said tears filling her eyes and that same age-old fear filling her heart. No amount of martial arts or self-defense could help her now. Not with the overwhelming and crippling fear filling her heart.
"Oh don't cry love. This doesn't have to be hard." Piper pulled into the driveway and Charlie pulled Phoebe behind the bushes they both watched as Leo opened the door and started toward Piper to help her carry some groceries. Help was just a scream away but Phoebe found her mouth frozen in fear. Charlie turned his attention back to Phoebe. He pressed the knife in and the tip bit her cheek cruelly, a scarlet drop ran down the blade. Pulling her close he whispered fiercely.
"I'll get Ethan." Then looking her over, "and you too." Then he let her go and disappeared down the street.