These Twisted Lives We Lead, Part 1, by Lea
Summary: Cole is going through a very tough time in his life after the events of Exit Strategy. Can Phoebe save him? And will she be willing to? Set about three weeks after Exit Strategy, Pheobe and Cole have not seen each other since then and any episodes after Exit Strategy have not occurred.
Rating: PG-13 (deals with adult themes)
Spoilers: Exit Strategy
Content: Some kissing, angst and adult themes.
Pairing: Phoebe/Cole
Disclaimer: None of the characters used belong to me, no profit is made from this story and no infringement is intended.
Feedback can be sent to me at: MetsAreMyLife@aol.com
"Wow! Piper, this is great!"
The two older Halliwell sisters were in the kitchen late one Friday afternoon. Piper was cooking something and Prue tasting it in the few minutes she had left before she needed to leave for an appointment when the doorbell rang. Piper was busy, so Prue went to get it.
She opened the door and was shocked to see Cole standing there. She raised her hands to tk him when he held up his, palms facing outward, in a gesture of submission. He looked worse than Prue had ever seen him before, as if he had been nearly completely beaten down, both physically and in spirit. His eyes were lifeless and his shoulders slumped; he looked more weary than any person, or half-demon for that matter, ever ought to be. Piper joined her sister by the door and placed a hand on her shoulder, silently telling her to let him say his piece, he couldn't have looked like less of a threat if he tried, so Prue acquiesced. She lowered her arms and crossed them, ready to listen.
"Please..." He said brokenly, "I just need to talk to you guys, I swear, I'll leave as soon as you hear me out and I won't bother you anymore. I wouldn't even have come here under normal circumstances, but I had no where else to go." Towards the end of this his voice took on a note of desperation. "You three are my last hope."
After a moments thought, Prue stepped back to let him through. He sighed in relief and was about to enter when they heard someone coming down the stairs.
"Piper, Prue? I heard the doorbell ring, who..." She broke off her sentence as she saw who it was. For a long moment their eyes locked. Prue, still looking at Cole saw a tiny spark of life light up in his eyes, but then Phoebe abruptly turned towards her sisters, dismissing him and the spark died.
"What is he doing here?" She asked angrily.
"Phoebe! Calm down! He said he had to talk with us and would leave as soon as he was done." Piper said.
"And you believe him?" She asked.
After hesitating for a second, Piper responded with, "Yes."
At this Phoebe turned quickly and started walking away from them. Piper and Prue looked at each other.
"Umm, Pheebes, where are you going?" asked Prue.
"You said we were going to talk, do you want to stand in the doorway the whole damn time or sit in the living room?" snapped Phoebe. Seeing Cole again had startled her, threw her off her rhythm, she wasn't sure how to react. She had thought she managed to forget about him and was surprised to see how much he still meant to her. Seeing him again brought up a flood of emotions that she felt were safer remaining bottled up.
The three sisters sat down in the living room and Cole took a seat across from them. At first no one spoke, but when he saw the expectant looks on their faces, Cole took a deep breath and decided to begin. He stretched out his right arm, palm up and appeared about to summon something when he saw the looks on the sisters' faces and paused.
"Don't worry," he said sardonically, "Even if I wanted to I doubt I'd have the strength to do anything to you guys right now." He looked at them as if asking for their permission to continue and when Prue nodded he stuck out his hand again. He concentrated for a few seconds and then a white ball of light appeared in his palm. He reached out with his other hand and cradled the ball gently between them, staring at it.
When it seemed that no further information was likely to be offered by him, Piper attempted to get him started by asking, "Well, what is it?"
After a second, he started talking again, "It's my fathers soul." he replied bitterly, "Payment, for a job well done." The self-contempt and loathing for what he had done was plainly evident in his voice. The sisters looked at each other in shock over this new revelation. Cole continued, "This is now the single good thing in my life, which, for that matter, has gone completely and horribly wrong. Not that I expect sympathy, or even deserve it. It's just that if my life should end today, or tomorrow, which, with all the combined forces of both good and evil out after my blood, seems like more of a probability and less of a possibility each day, I wouldn't want all the terrible things that have happened and all the sacrifices that have been made in order to get this to have been for nothing. And since you three are the only people in this world I can trust..." he trailed off, but when none of them said anything, he added, "If you won't do it for me, then do it for the soul of a good man, an innocent man, who has been forced to suffer all the tortures of hell for over a hundred years. Please." he said, almost begging at this point.
At last Piper looked at her sisters and nodded, "We'll take it." she said.
Cole exhaled a large sigh of relief and passed the glowing orb to her. "Show it to Leo, he'll know what to do with it."
Suddenly Prue leapt up, "Oh my God!" She exclaimed, "I'm going to be late for my appointment!"
"And I," said Piper, "Am going to go show this to Leo." The two of them left the room, not even realizing that they had left their youngest sister alone with Cole.
Phoebe and Cole stood up, but neither of them said anything, both being lost in their thoughts. Suddenly in a small voice Phoebe asked, "Cole, did you mean what you said before, about you dieing?"
For a minute Cole didn't answer, but then he burst out saying, "I hate my life! It consists of nothing but shimmering from place to place to place, hundreds of times a day, in rapid-fire succession, until I get so dizzy I couldn't even tell you which way is up. I shimmer, because I have found ways to use minimal energy to obtain maximum results and it is much, much less draining then trying to form an energy ball of sufficient force to do much of anything. I don't even have the energy to make a stand and fight so I'm forced to run and hide, like a coward, and, to top things off I haven't been able to sleep in weeks!" his voice became slightly hysterical, " I- I don't know how much more of this I can stand! I was never meant for the life of a fugitive, Phoebe." He said, looking up into her eyes and shaking his head. "When I was with you, I had a reason to keep fighting, a good one, a really good one, but now it just all seems so pointless. I have nothing to live for." he paused, then continued in a low voice that was no less intense for it's volume, "Sometimes, or rather, most of the time, I wish that instead of incinerating that witch, I could have been the one killed."
Cole looked up at Phoebe, it took a moment for the shock on her face to register, and then he realized what he just said. "I'm sorry, I- uh- I got to go," he said hastily.
"Cole, wait- no-" said Phoebe, but it was too late, as he shimmered out of the house.
Phoebe ran out of the house quickly brushing past a startled Piper and Leo, who had just orbed in. She took off in Pipers car, not even caring that she hadn't asked. Phoebe knew where Cole would go; it was just a matter of being able to get there in time. She needed to get to the mausoleum before he did anything drastic.
~End chapter 1~
Nickelback- How You Remind Me
Never made it as a wise man
I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing
Tired of living like a blind man
I'm sick of sight without a sense of feeling
And this is how you remind me
…
It's
not like you didn't know that
I said I love you and I swear I still do
And it must have been so bad
'Cause living with me must have damn near killed you
And
this is how you remind me
Of what I really am
This is how you remind me
Of what I really am
Authors Note: Please review! Let me know what you think of it! I'll try to get the next part up as soon as possible.
