Chapter four…Thicker than Water
"What?" Phoebe asked dazed.
"Do you want to talk to her or should I tell her that you opted for the lobotomy?" Piper joked. Phoebe grabbed at her sense but found them evasive. After three years this wasn't exactly the phone call you were expecting. Sure she'd given her the number and told her to call but she'd never actually anticipated she would.
"Hello, earth to Phoebe." Piper continued. Phoebe snatched the phone and regained her senses.
"Hello?" The others pretended that they weren't listening, "Um yeah. Oh I'm so sorry. That must have been awful. Sure. Uh huh. What are friends for right? You have the address I left you right? Ok good. Oh that's about fifteen minutes away. All right see you then. Bye." Phoebe hung up the phone and everyone looked at her expectantly.
"Well?" Piper finally asked.
"Well that was Julie." Phoebe said.
"Give the girl a prize. Ok lets do this step by step. What did she say?" Piper prompted.
"She'll be here in fifteen minutes. Her husband died last month and she decided she wanted to start fresh. I told her she could stay here for awhile…" Phoebe stopped as if something just occurred to her, "Which was really stupid considering…"
"Charlie knows where you live…" Leo said.
"And he wants you back…" Cole added turning away from the group.
"No. He doesn't want me back." Phoebe said this time going over to Cole and putting her arms around him. "He wants Ethan. I would be a bonus. What he really wants is Ethan and I just invited him into Charlie's hands."
"I'm sure we can keep him out of harm's way and if Charlie tries anything Darryl will have a hay day with him." Leo offered.
"We couldn't keep Prue safe." Piper said softly under her breath.
"Way to think positive." Cole complained.
"Well it's the truth isn't it? We failed. I failed. Maybe we can have Darryl put the two of them in protective custody or something?" Piper offered.
"Piper." Leo said calmly. Phoebe walked over to Piper and placed her hands on her sister's tired shoulders.
"Piper it wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could have done. No one blames you. Honey we can do this. Come on lets give it a try at least." Phoebe begged.
"I don't want another innocent on my hands Phoebe. Especially not your son."
"Noted. But don't you want to meet your nephew?" Phoebe pleaded.
"Oh fine you win. But that wasn't very fair." Piper conceded in her baby voice.
The doorbell rang and the group froze.
"You should get it." Piper said to her little sister.
"I can't you do it." Phoebe argued back. Cole walked up behind Phoebe and pushed her toward the door.
"We'll both get it." He said as he led her to the door. When Phoebe opened the door a bundle of arms and legs flew at her and wrapped themselves around her.
"Mommy!" the bundle cried. Taken aback Phoebe just stood and stared. Every thing in her wanted to pick the little boy up and shower him with kisses, to tell him that she was his mommy and that he'd never have to leave again, but she knew she couldn't do that well she couldn't do part of it. Phoebe picked the boy up and showered him with kisses. She knew her arms had felt empty but she never realized just how empty they had felt until that moment.
"Um…how?" Phoebe asked Julie as she stepped out of the way so that Julie could enter. Piper went out and paid the taxi with Leo and Leo brought in the couple's bags.
"Shortly after you left. We realized that Ethan here is special. You left a sweater that you let me borrow and one day he picked it up and went sort of limp for a moment. Then he just started calling out your name and calling you Mommy. He's slept with the thing ever since then." Julie offered. Phoebe knew what that felt like for Julie. For her son to start calling another woman Mommy.
"I'm sorry I never told you. I…" Phoebe started but had to stop.
"It's alright. I've always known. I am glad that I got to share him with you. Um can I ask you a question?" Julie asked.
"Sure." Phoebe said leading the way into the living room.
"This gift Ethan has for seeing things…Do you…or does his father…do you know where I mean…" Phoebe stopped her before she could continue.
"I get premonitions and it sounds like Ethan does too. I haven't always gotten them though it's a whole family thing that is really complicated. Remind me to tell you some time. Speaking of family Julie I'd like you to meet Piper and her husband Leo and this is Cole he is my boyfriend."
"Much better than my brother Clay. Guess you took my advice and found a less complicated more giving guy." Julie joked. Less complicated that was an interesting way to describe Cole.
"What about Prue? I thought I remembered something about another sister." Julie asked. The room got silent.
"Prue isn't with us anymore." Piper said.
"Oh I'm sorry. How long?" Julie asked.
"A month." Piper finished.
"Oh. This is a bad time. If you want us to go somewhere else we'd understand." Julie offered.
"No. No don't do that. Um there is something else too. Ethan's father is looking for him and he really isn't the kind of guy you want to mess with. I'd just feel a whole lot safer if Ethan and you were both here." Phoebe said squeezing her son tighter. Julie nodded.
"Mommy look." Ethan said then showed Phoebe his limited counting skills.
"One…Two…free…four…five." He proudly demonstrated with his cubby fingers.
"Wow! Can you show Mommy how old you are?" Phoebe asked leading the little boy over to the couch. Cole followed with a look of wonder for the two. Piper and Leo stood watching the scene with Julie.
"They look like a perfect little family don't they?" Julie asked. Piper nodded and Leo placed his hands on his wife's shoulders from behind. "Are you two expecting any little ones soon?" Julie asked.
"Hopefully." Piper said lost in her own world. Leo gave her a confused look. "No not now." She continued. "I'm just saying it'd be nice."
"I don't think I can take him away from her again." Julie said. "Look at them. He knows her and he hasn't seen her since he was one and a half. He really knows her. And her, look and her. She is just as bad. I know she must have stayed awake countless nights wishing she could hold him. She has missed so much I wish I could have given her that. They all look so happy together. Even this Cole. He's different from the guys she used to date back in New York. He really cares about her. I can tell. The guys in New York were plain evil compared to him. I'm glad she finally found someone who treats her like she deserves and who can see the person she is. I've worried about her a lot over the past few years. It's good to see that she has finally settled down into a safe and healthy lifestyle." Julie finished.
"How are you doing with all this?" Piper asked.
"You know I honestly thought it would be harder than it is. I've always known though that Ed, my husband, wouldn't be around for Ethan when he got older. Call it a sixth sense or whatever but I've always known that one day Ethan would know that I wasn't his real mother and that he'd want his real mother with him. That's why I let Phoebe come over so much. They both needed each other. Ethan never really accepted me as his mother as most kids would. He'd call me Mommy sure, but something was always missing. When he called your sister Mommy just now that something that was missing wasn't missing any longer. I don't know if I'm making any sense but…"
"No you are." Piper said. "Perfect sense."