** And then... **, 'Brain Drain'.

by Lilian

lilian413@yahoo.com

AN: Okay, just as 'Why', I plan to make this a series. What happens after the cameras fade to black, and we're left with wanting and drool hanging on our chins?. This is *my* take on what may happen. I hope you enjoy.

And please, review!!!.


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"My, my, Miss Halliwell, are you trying to seduce me?".

Cole snaked his strong arm around her waist, and harshly pulled her against him. Phoebe gasped and softly moaned, knowing a blatant invitation when it squeezed her in the derriere.

"Always".

The blazing fire of passion that ignited in his eyes at that simple word, was enough to set hers on too. And suddenly there were too many people in the room, and much too clothing was still on... there were times like this in which Phoebe wished she lived alone. Just for the sake of enjoying other flat surfaces besides the bed.

Not that the actual *presence* of her sisters had by any means obstructed the alternative uses for the living room floor, or the conservatory's cold tiles, or the upstairs shower or the---

A not so unnoticed squeeze on her butt, and Phoebe came back from her daydream. She tended to do that, a *lot*, whenever she thought of him. The power of premonition was a wonderful thing to have, especially when your boyfriend had the ability to pop in unnoticed into your room... it allowed you to wear sexy lingerie, and shave opportunely. And it always got the fire started, even before he had even thought about sneaking into her room at night. One might think it could kill the charm in a relationship (excuse the pun), but hey, Cole was a demon, and she never got as much premonitions anyway.

She smiled at him, and softly pushed him back. He got the message.

Like children, they sprinted up the stairs, never once looking back. They knew Piper was 'eew-ing' and them, and that Paige (much more understanding when it came to free life style), would just roll her eyes, and hope they had enough protection.

They never made it to the bedroom though. Entire weeks without each other had fueled a fire that was threatening to consume them. Halfway through the corridor, and they were already on top of each other.

It was a good thing Cole was as tall as he was--- a couple of inches shorter, and he would've probably crumbled under the pent-up passion of Hurricane Phoebe.

Not that he minded in the least bit, thank you very much.

Phoebe had jumped on him the second they were out of the way from prying eyes. Her strong legs locked around his waist, she devoured his lips with her own... she was like a starving woman, whom had just been offered the banquet of a lifetime.

Yes, I'll have Cole a' l'orange with monkey naked sex on the side please.

She barely acknowledged the not-so-soft slamming of her back on the wall, as Cole pressed her up against it, trying to get more leverage. He wanted, *needed* his hands to be free--- he needed to touch her, to feel her...

Gods, he had missed her so much!.

Their clothes were in the way. He took the easy way out.

He shimmered them both out of their clothing, and right into that king sized bed of hers. He could selectively shimmer certain molecules, once he got a touch of them. And he had most certainly gotten a touch of every *single* molecule in Phoebe's delicious anatomy.

Phoebe's shriek of surprise was promptly muffled by his lips back on her mouth. She moaned into his luscious lips, and they breathed in on each other for the next few minutes. They only broke apart for the need for air, and Phoebe's small hand pressed against his chest.

"Honey, not that I'm complaining, but you left our clothes in the hallway".

Hmmm, Phoebe was thinking. Maybe he was loosing his touch; back on the good old days, he could've kept her so wrapped up in *them*, she hardly could've had time to think about their discarded clothing. Maybe she needed more distractions...

"So?".

He spoke with his lips on her neck, and his daring hands traveling through her curves. As Phoebe gasped and writhed underneath him, he silently congratulated himself.

{Now that's more like it}.

"Piper warned me against leaving obvious 'I'm scoring' signals around the house".

Phoebe was having a hard time focusing on anything, except the warm body on top of hers. Gosh, if only the man would stop licking her earlobe, she could gather her thoughts long enough to form a proper sentence!.

"And?".

His full chest rippled with laughter, and Phoebe mock slapped him in the shoulder.

"I'm the one who lives here, remember?. And I'd like to keep it that way".

His blazing blue eyes sought hers, and as he settled comfortably above her, his forearms holding him up, he asked:

"Do you *really* want me to shimmer back there and get them?".

"No. Not really".

They liked this useless banter. It felt good to have someone to bicker with... it kinda released the stress.

Piper insisted it was a perfected form of foreplay.

Not that she was totally wrong, by the way.

"Then why are we having this conversation?".

"Because talking is good. I think".

When he looked at her like that, she lost all ability to function normally. And he knew it. He knew perfectly well that she was a stuttering young girl when his eyes looked at her, even across a room. She really needed to tell him to stop doing that.

He took her mind off Charmed duty, and sent it into places Grams would've labeled 'down below'. Into the gutter. Onto the dark side. Choose your pick, she liked it (*loved* it), no matter what you called it.

"And is there something specific you wanted to talk about?".

She placed her index finger against her cheek, and pretended to actually think about it.

"Well, we *could* talk--- but I'd rather kiss you instead".

Her strong arms went around his neck, and softly pushed him down. And they kissed. And they loved. And no words were uttered for a very, very long time...


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.... skip, skip, hop, and hop. Skip, hop, skip, hop. Lick on lollipop. Do not see evil. Do not hear evil. Do not say evil. Doctors will know. Think happy thoughts.

Skip, hop. Hop, hop. Up, down, left, right, forward.

She liked it here. The hallway was quiet, and maybe, if she squinted her eyes hard enough, the disgusting mop in her hands changed into a clean broom. Sometimes, she knew that if she tried, she could smell the wood, and the forest, and there would be no doctors, no pills, and no restraints.

She straightened the strap of her black bra, one of the few things she had left from when things were... normal. Had things ever been normal?. Had she really lived a life so carefree, so wonderful, that it sometimes blurred into nothingness?.

The drugs in her system made it hard to think. Even to remember. Her past was slowly fading into the back corners of her mind, and the Phoebe Halliwell who had been committed all those years ago was slowly disappearing.

Her fiancé was upstairs... or so she thought. Sometimes, at night, she could hear his screams. And it was one of the few things that still hurt. The pills could take away the pain, the confusion--- but Cole's cries always managed to awaken her.

She would remain there, sitting on her bed, rocking back and forth, trying to block him out, and at the same time, to take him in. If only they allowed her up the attic... maybe if she could look at him one more time, she could make it all better for him.

She missed Paige and Piper. Her roommates were fun to be around with... specially Piper, with her witchy ideas and super powers. It would be cool to fly, as Piper promised her she would someday. Although the kickass power belonged to Paige... according to Piper, she could move things with her mind.

As she moved forward, looking for the forbidden attic door, she took one last lick at her lollipop, and then put it away in her pocket. Cole didn't like it when she played around with those things. It rots your teeth, he had said.

Putting the broom aside, she straightened her clothes, and fixed her hair. As much as she could without a mirror anyway. It was hard to do, considering how the drugs made her pulse tremble and her vision blurry...

Knowing there was no one in the attic, she softly pushed the door open. She had been there when the doctors had electrified Cole to unconsciousness. And she also knew that they left him up here every night, knowing he wouldn't care anyway.

As she had expected, the room was empty. Save for the pull-up chair, to which he was strapped. His lead lolled to the side, and his breathing even, he was clearly asleep.

She entered the room, and closed the door behind her. She still had another hour or so, before the guards would check her room.

Walking up to him, she drank in his tired features. She really, really didn't see any progress. Dr. ((((())))) said the electroshock would help him recover, and he could move back down with her... but days went by, and Cole remained locked upstairs, and she remained alone in their room.

She smiled goofily, as through the corner of her eye, she saw the 'Book of Shadows' laying in the floor. She skipped up to it, and picked it up. Blowing on the cover, to brush off imaginary dust, she opened it. And she smiled again, as the word 'Belthazor' greeted her.

In her loopy, capital handwriting. And then endless ranting, on how cute he was, and what gorgeous chest he had, and how he liked fine wine and long walks in the park. And how they were promised soul mates, and of their engagement... she had written it at first just to go along with Piper's fantasy. But then, it had been a good way to vent her frustrations.

As frustrated as a person could get, with drugs running through their system 24/7.

She skipped back to Cole's prone body, and tilted her head to the side. As she examined him, with the curious gaze of a five-year-old, she wondered if he could still play...

Taking a duster laying around in a table nearby, she dried the sweat off his forehead. He moaned in his sleep, and whispered what sounded like her name. She smiled.

Cole still remembered her.

Her long fingers pried the pads off his forehead and cheeks, cringing as he grunted.

"I'm sorry".

"Phoebe...".

His voice was hoarse and throaty, but his eyes opened. And for a split second, her own eyes unclouded, and somehow it was easy to think, and the drugs were gone--- and the next, the haze of drug-induced numbness came back, and the far away look returned to her pupils.

"It hurts".

"You want a taste of my lollipop?. It's cherry!".

A ghost of a smile danced through his lips, before he plunged back into unconsciousness.

She rested her head against his chest, and listened to his heartbeat. And things were right again. And there was no pain, and no doctors and nothing was keeping them apart...


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Phoebe opened her eyes with a loud gasp. It had been so real!. As she breathed heavily, trying to regain some sense of reality, Cole's fingers caressed her belly, soothing her down. One look behind her, and his worried eyes met hers.

"Are you all right?".

She nodded slowly, unsure if she was awake yet.

"You woke up pretty suddenly. Bad dream?".

She rolled on her side, and turned in his arms. He laid back, and she rested on top of him. Listening to his heartbeat always calmed her down...

{Even in freaky alternate universes, it seems}.

"More like--- a revelation".

"A revelation?".

"Yeah. I saw--- I was--- we were--- crazy?".

His male laughter rippled through his chest from underneath her.

"I think that's an understatement".

She smiled, and absently played with his nipple, in rhythm with his own skillful fingers.

"No, not like that. Crazy *crazy*".

She could feel his frown more than see it, way above her eyeline. His head rested atop the pillows, and she was resting atop him, so she couldn't see his face. But she didn't need to. She could read him like an open book... just like he could read her.

And Cole didn't like what he was reading. Phoebe was worried--- more than worried, shocked. And whatever could *shock* Phoebe, was bound to mean trouble.

"Time Loop?".

"More like alternate universe".

Oh, those. He had had his share of alternate universes... training grounds for new demons.

"And?".

He didn't mean to pressure her, but he needed to know. Whatever was endangering his Phoebe would have to be dealt with *now*.

"We were here. The manor was a mental hospital. And Piper and Paige were there too. And I think Leo was a doctor, a shrink, and the demon was a shrink, and I kept hopping around like a bunny, and they had you trapped to a chair, and they were giving you electroshocks, and I couldn't think straight, but you were my fiancé---".

She had tried to stay calm. She really had. But once she had begun talking, things came pouring out, and she couldn't stop herself. But Cole softly kissed the top of her head, and brought her back to reality.

"Slow down, honey. The house was a mental hospital?. Wasn't that Piper's brain meld?".

They hadn't talked much about it, but from what little Piper had said, and whatever Cole had heard while with the Source, they had managed to paint a watercolor of it. And they didn't like it one bit.

"Yeah. I think the Mind Link spell tied us tighter that I thought. Piper must've leaked her memories to us, and I just added the rest".

"Was it *that* disturbing?".

As a male, Cole could sometimes be *so* insensitive. She raised her head from his chest, and scrunched her lips and frowned deeply.

"What do *you* think?".

And as a male, Cole *knew* when he screwed up. And he had the rare ability to fix his own messes.

"I'm sorry".

And as a female in love, Phoebe forgave him. She wasn't really angry with him, just--- upset. The dream/memory was still too fresh in her mind.

"Don't be. It's still too raw. It was weird".

"I would think so. Care to tell me what it was like?".

"Strange. It was freaky!. But--- you were there, and you made me feel better. I was a total nutcase, and so were you!".

His fingers entwined in her hair, as he pondered her words.

"And we still were witches--- or at least we thought we were. Why is it we always get glimpses of what were, or what we could be?".

That stroke him as odd.

"What you were?".

"Yeah. I went back in time, once. To my former life's body. I was a powerful witch. I had this kickass power, you know. I actually threw fire!".

Cole raised an eyebrow at this.

"You went into your past life's body?. What for?".

"Because I was being attacked by a sexy ghost, who tried to seduce me, and then kill me, and my sisters, well they were my cousins back then, had cursed me in that life and the next, and it was taking effect, and if I didn't go, I was going to die".

Cole had kinda stopped listening after the 'sexy' and 'seduction' part of her story. You know, for a demon so powerful and mighty, he was *very* jealous. And Phoebe was a woman that attracted men like honey calls for flies... so he kinda had a reason to be so possessive.

"Who was it?".

"Anton, was his name. He wanted immortality, found us instead. We vanquished *his* sorry butt". Did you know I was evil in my past life?".

He blinked twice, before this new information settled in.

"You were evil?".

"Yeah. Evil *evil*".

"Evil *and* crazy. Hmm, I think I see a trend here".

"Hey!".

Phoebe sat upright, and looked down on him, her small hands tightened into fists.

"You wanna a piece of me, mister?".

Cole licked his lips hungrily, and his eyes flashed black for a second.

"I think I already have, darling".

A deep blush crept up Phoebe's face, and took hold of her cheeks. Strange how the sex reference managed to embarrass her, whereas the fact she was sitting naked astride her also naked boyfriend kept her calm.

Or aroused. Or something.

"You're wicked, did you know that?".

"But you love me for it".

"Oh, really?. Because I was just thinking that's the least of your charms".

It was Cole's time to frown.

"Really?".

"Yep. Because, you know, I've already had the 'evil-boyfriend-thing' one too many times, and I'm looking for something different right now...".

Cole tuned her out. He *knew* she was just horsing around with him, and he had other matters that required his interest.

As Phoebe continued on with her ranting, she completely failed to notice Cole's arms moving up her thighs. And only when they settled firmly on her waist, and rolled her over, did she stop.

And shrieked.

"Mr. Turner. Are you planning to have your wicked way with me?".

Cole answered by kissing her passionately. As she moaned into the kiss, his hand did delicious things to her body. And she thanked the Powers that he had had a hundred years to perfect his loving skills.

"If I remember correctly, *Miss* Haliwell, *you* were the one trying to seduce me downstairs".

Phoebe grinned, and raised in the bed to kiss his forehead.

"I say potato, you say potato...".


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It wasn't until next morning, when Paige came down sleepy and weary-eyed, that they realized they might have been a *little* loud. Phoebe had always being a loud person--- that trait reflected in her lovemaking.

But it was worth it, to see the shock and embarrassment in Piper's face, when Paige directed her remarks to her and asked nonchalantly if they weren't trying too hard to make a baby.

It was good to be alive.

Indeed it was.


«« The end »»