AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah, okay, sorry it took so long, I wasn't sure if I liked
this chapter but oh well. So read on and don't forget to review!
Phoebe emerged from the confines of the bathroom what seemed like hours later, the clock on the wall proved her correct, as it read 1:34AM. She found Cole in an armchair by the door dozing peacefully; he'd apparently drug the chair in from the office. She smiled slightly at the display of love and affection, knowing in her heart she could always count on him. He would always be there, waiting for her as he had done all those years ago after she'd vanquished him when the Source had taken him over. He'd waited, not quite patiently, then and was waiting for her now.
She skirted carefully around his chair, careful not to wake him, she still wasn't ready to explain her premonition to him, but she would, she'd have to before long. She slipped quietly into the bedroom they shared and changed into an old pair of worn out jeans and a sweater. She grabbed a dry erase marker and wrote him a note on the mirror where they usually left each other little notes.
Baby, I'm out. I need to get away and think for a while. I love you. Phoebs
She grabbed her keys and quietly slipped out of the Loft.
She wasn't exactly sure where she was going when she hopped into her Porsche, being so successful she and Cole both had expensive cars. She simply drove without paying much attention to where she was going. It was unsafe, she knew, but her mind kept wandering back to her premonition.
It was clear enough what the message had been. The result of making love with Cole that night would be a child. A girl. A baby girl she would carry inside her, not an illusion as it had been when Bera had stolen Patience from her womb, this time her pregnancy would be real. The thought of loosing her figure to childbirth, having to wear maternity clothes for a few months and the pain of the final birth did nothing to sway the sense of pure joy she felt.
But the end of her vision haunted her. A girl, no a woman, in her early twenties so it seemed, with long hair black as night and crystal clear blue eyes an exact replica of Cole's, stared back at her in her mind's eye. Without having to be told she knew who she was.
She was the one who caused her nightmares and the one who ruined her dreams. She was the one she saw when she looked at her husband, causing her to question his past. She was the dark fear that crawled in the pit of her stomach. She was Raven, Cole's daughter.
She stopped the car without paying attention to where she was or why, but to the questions that raced through her mind. Was Raven real? Did Cole have another daughter out there somewhere? Was she missing her father at this very moment, wondering why he wasn't in her life? Or was she evil like her mother had been? Was she plotting revenge against her mother's murderers?
Confusion swept over her as she sat down on a bench and brought her knees up to rest her chin on them. She sat staring off into space, thinking of what she was going to do about this baby that was surely growing inside her now. She couldn't, wouldn't, get an abortion. That was out of the question, and she'd never give a child up for anything.
Suddenly she wondered why she was playing out her options when there was only one thing to do. She would have the baby, keep the baby and raise the baby. It wasn't as if she'd been raped and didn't know whom the father was. She knew who the father was, hell she was married to the father so why had she even considered abortion or adoption? She continued to sit and puzzle over the question a while longer.
* * * * *
Piper was rudely awakened early that same morning by the sharp ring of the telephone beside her bed. Sleepily she grabbed the telephone before one of the kids woke up and pressed the on/off button. "What?" she asked groggily.
"Piper?" a worried male voice asked from the end of the line. She instantly recognized it as Cole's.
"Cole, you're daughter is fine, stop worrying and spend some time with my sister. Believe me you won't get this offer again for a while," she told him before he had a chance to go on.
"Piper, don't hang up!" he exclaimed as if he knew she were about to hang up on him.
"What?" she asked more than a little annoyed.
"Phoebe's gone, I don't know where she is and she doesn't have her cell with her," he said quickly enough to catch her attention.
"What do you mean Phoebe's gone?" Piper repeated. "Why would she leave?"
"She had a premonition and freaked out," he replied.
"Well what did she see?" Piper asked.
"I don't know she wouldn't tell me," he answered with a sigh.
"Well that's not like her," Piper observed as she pulled herself into a sitting position and turned on the light. "Did she say anything?"
"No, she just ran into the bathroom and wouldn't let me in. I fell asleep waiting for her to come out and the next thing I knew it was 2:30 and she was gone," he explained.
"Why didn't you just shimmer into the bathroom then?" Piper asked as if it were the logical explanation.
"I didn't want to scare her more than she already was," she heard him sigh. "Besides, I think whatever she saw had to do with me. I mean, she looked at me as if her world had fallen apart before her eyes. She was so scared Piper, I've never seen her that scared except when- when."
He trailed off but she knew the time she was referring too. The night Bera stole her baby. "I know what you mean Cole. I just don't understand why she wouldn't tell you what she saw, she usually tells you before she tells me or Paige."
"I know," he replied. "She was crying Piper, I could hear her crying through the door." It had broken his heart too, but he didn't tell her.
Piper sighed and stood up, she couldn't sit still any longer. She needed to get up and move she needed to do something with her hands. She walked into the nursery and checked on the twins and Shawn. Finding them sound asleep she walked to the window and stared out into the night. The sky was clear and the tops of the trees swayed gently in a soft breeze. There was a full moon and it cast an eerie glow over the yard and trees, making it seem like a winter wonderland, without the snow.
She surveyed her yard noting that she needed to cut the grass and plant some new flowers. She glanced over to the corner of the yard to a gliding bench surrounded by once lush wild flowers that had been slowly killed off with the coming frost. On the gliding bench she noticed the silhouette of a figure. It didn't move, it just sat, staring at the dead flowers.
"Piper? Are you there?" Cole's voice snapped her back to reality.
"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry," she answered. "Um, I've got to go, one of the kids woke up," she lied and clicked the on/off button again before he could protest.
She walked quickly down the hall, making sure David and Patience were sleeping soundly and grabbing a baseball bat leaning against the wall as she hurried downstairs. She opened the back door with a loud creak, and looked to the corner of the yard where the figure still sat, unmoving as if it hadn't heard the door open. She tiptoed over, the bat raised and ready to defend her sons and nieces with her own life against the intruder.
She'd nearly brought the bat bashing down onto the invader's head when she realized it was her sister. "Ohmigod! Phoebe!" she exclaimed. "God I almost had a heart attack!"
"Huh? What?" Phoebe asked jerking her head up to look at Piper. She couldn't see her face, for she was in the shadow of the moon behind her, but she could tell by her silhouette and stance that it was her. "Piper? What are you doing here?"
"I was checking on the twins when I looked out the window and saw someone sitting in my backyard," she indicated the baseball bat with a nod of her head and sat down on the gliding bench next to Phoebe. She tucked one leg under her and began rocking the chair back and forth slowly, waiting for Phoebe to speak.
Phoebe gave a little snort. "An all powerful witch with the power to freeze, make things explode, slow down time and back track time, needs a baseball bat to protect her against someone sitting in her backyard?" Phoebe asked. "Right."
"Don't ask it, was there," Piper shrugged. "So you wanna tell me what's wrong?"
"What makes you think there's something wrong?" Phoebe inquired.
"Other than the fact that you're at my house at 2:30 in the morning, sitting outside and staring off into space?" she shook her head. "You tell me."
Phoebe looked down, unable to come up with a response.
"Cole called," she added. "He said you had a premonition wouldn't tell him anything. Said he woke up and you were gone, wanted me to keep an eye out for you."
Again Phoebe didn't reply, she wasn't sure she was ready to tell anyone about Raven.
"He thinks you're scared of him Phoebe," Piper added, hoping to get it out of Phoebe just why she had left the Loft in the middle of the night.
"What? I'm not scared of him!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Why would he even think that?"
"Well you did lock yourself in the bathroom to get away from him," Piper shrugged. "Maybe that has something to do with it."
"I wasn't trying to get away from him," Phoebe corrected. "I was just. trying to be alone."
"Because.?" she prompted.
"Because. I needed to be alone?" she replied, unsure of her answer.
Piper sighed. "So I'm guessing I'm gonna have to beat it out of you?"
"No Piper, it's just," Phoebe gave a frustrated sigh. "I can't tell you."
"Sure you can, you've been telling me things since you learned to talk," Piper joked.
"Not this," Phoebe shook her head.
"Phoebs, I'm your sister. I've known you since you were born and since you could speak you've told me everything. You told me about how you kissed Jeffrey Thompson in the janitor's closet in eight grade, you told me you got drunk on your prom night, and you lost your virginity to your high school boyfriend Kevan. We've always shared everything even poison ivy and the chicken pocks. We've been through hard times together and good ones. Now no matter what your secret is I will still stand by you and love you forever. You can tell me anything Phoebe, I'm your sister."
Phoebe felt tears prick the back of her eyes for the thousandth time that night. She'd tell her part of it, but not all. "Bera told me she and Cole have a daughter and tonight I found out it's true." She'd managed to get it all out in one breath, before a flood of tears burst open.
Piper stared in surprise at Phoebe. Whatever she'd expected to hear from Phoebe, this was a far cry from it. She wasn't exactly sure whether to feel angry or scared.
"Wow, I so was not expecting that," Piper replied and took a deep breath. "Um, okay. W-we just have to think, Phoebe, think."
Phoebe sniffled. "What do you think I've been doing for the past three hours?"
"Right, sorry," Piper gave her a firm nod. "Um, Paige can make a vanquishing potion."
"No," Phoebe shook her head. "I don't think I could kill her. Not knowing who she is."
"Phoebe, she's Bera's daughter!" Piper exclaimed.
"She's Cole's daughter too," Phoebe countered. "I can't kill something that's apart of my husband. If you found out Leo had another child would you kill it?"
Piper snorted. "If Leo had another kid I'd kill him."
"In the literal sense Piper," Phoebe sighed.
Piper was silent for a moment. "You're right, I couldn't do it. But you would do if for me." She paused to let her words sink in. "All those years ago- No Phoebe look at me," Piper demanded when her sister looked away. "I know you hate talking about it, but you should talk about if every once in a while. All those years ago, I killed Bera because I saw the way you reacted to what she told you. I was afraid that you would be so upset you couldn't think straight. I was afraid Bera would take that chance and kill you. But I also did it because I knew you would never forgive yourself for killing your daughter's birth mother. If she attacks and you can't kill her. Be warned that Paige and I will."
Phoebe took a deep breath. Piper's words had hit home, but she wasn't straying from her beliefs. "If you kill her Piper, I will never forgive you."
"You've never forgiven me for killing Bera either," Piper replied.
"I know," Phoebe nodded silently.
Piper sighed. "Look, you can spend the night here tonight if you want. I'm sure Cole's had enough surprises for one night, he doesn't need to hear this tonight."
Phoebe nodded and let Piper lead her into the Manor, where she immediately fell asleep next to her daughter and dreamt nightmares about the woman she knew as Raven, and who now had a face.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so tell me what you think, and all that other stuff. Remember I'm open to suggestions. Please Review and I'll update soon.
Phoebe emerged from the confines of the bathroom what seemed like hours later, the clock on the wall proved her correct, as it read 1:34AM. She found Cole in an armchair by the door dozing peacefully; he'd apparently drug the chair in from the office. She smiled slightly at the display of love and affection, knowing in her heart she could always count on him. He would always be there, waiting for her as he had done all those years ago after she'd vanquished him when the Source had taken him over. He'd waited, not quite patiently, then and was waiting for her now.
She skirted carefully around his chair, careful not to wake him, she still wasn't ready to explain her premonition to him, but she would, she'd have to before long. She slipped quietly into the bedroom they shared and changed into an old pair of worn out jeans and a sweater. She grabbed a dry erase marker and wrote him a note on the mirror where they usually left each other little notes.
Baby, I'm out. I need to get away and think for a while. I love you. Phoebs
She grabbed her keys and quietly slipped out of the Loft.
She wasn't exactly sure where she was going when she hopped into her Porsche, being so successful she and Cole both had expensive cars. She simply drove without paying much attention to where she was going. It was unsafe, she knew, but her mind kept wandering back to her premonition.
It was clear enough what the message had been. The result of making love with Cole that night would be a child. A girl. A baby girl she would carry inside her, not an illusion as it had been when Bera had stolen Patience from her womb, this time her pregnancy would be real. The thought of loosing her figure to childbirth, having to wear maternity clothes for a few months and the pain of the final birth did nothing to sway the sense of pure joy she felt.
But the end of her vision haunted her. A girl, no a woman, in her early twenties so it seemed, with long hair black as night and crystal clear blue eyes an exact replica of Cole's, stared back at her in her mind's eye. Without having to be told she knew who she was.
She was the one who caused her nightmares and the one who ruined her dreams. She was the one she saw when she looked at her husband, causing her to question his past. She was the dark fear that crawled in the pit of her stomach. She was Raven, Cole's daughter.
She stopped the car without paying attention to where she was or why, but to the questions that raced through her mind. Was Raven real? Did Cole have another daughter out there somewhere? Was she missing her father at this very moment, wondering why he wasn't in her life? Or was she evil like her mother had been? Was she plotting revenge against her mother's murderers?
Confusion swept over her as she sat down on a bench and brought her knees up to rest her chin on them. She sat staring off into space, thinking of what she was going to do about this baby that was surely growing inside her now. She couldn't, wouldn't, get an abortion. That was out of the question, and she'd never give a child up for anything.
Suddenly she wondered why she was playing out her options when there was only one thing to do. She would have the baby, keep the baby and raise the baby. It wasn't as if she'd been raped and didn't know whom the father was. She knew who the father was, hell she was married to the father so why had she even considered abortion or adoption? She continued to sit and puzzle over the question a while longer.
* * * * *
Piper was rudely awakened early that same morning by the sharp ring of the telephone beside her bed. Sleepily she grabbed the telephone before one of the kids woke up and pressed the on/off button. "What?" she asked groggily.
"Piper?" a worried male voice asked from the end of the line. She instantly recognized it as Cole's.
"Cole, you're daughter is fine, stop worrying and spend some time with my sister. Believe me you won't get this offer again for a while," she told him before he had a chance to go on.
"Piper, don't hang up!" he exclaimed as if he knew she were about to hang up on him.
"What?" she asked more than a little annoyed.
"Phoebe's gone, I don't know where she is and she doesn't have her cell with her," he said quickly enough to catch her attention.
"What do you mean Phoebe's gone?" Piper repeated. "Why would she leave?"
"She had a premonition and freaked out," he replied.
"Well what did she see?" Piper asked.
"I don't know she wouldn't tell me," he answered with a sigh.
"Well that's not like her," Piper observed as she pulled herself into a sitting position and turned on the light. "Did she say anything?"
"No, she just ran into the bathroom and wouldn't let me in. I fell asleep waiting for her to come out and the next thing I knew it was 2:30 and she was gone," he explained.
"Why didn't you just shimmer into the bathroom then?" Piper asked as if it were the logical explanation.
"I didn't want to scare her more than she already was," she heard him sigh. "Besides, I think whatever she saw had to do with me. I mean, she looked at me as if her world had fallen apart before her eyes. She was so scared Piper, I've never seen her that scared except when- when."
He trailed off but she knew the time she was referring too. The night Bera stole her baby. "I know what you mean Cole. I just don't understand why she wouldn't tell you what she saw, she usually tells you before she tells me or Paige."
"I know," he replied. "She was crying Piper, I could hear her crying through the door." It had broken his heart too, but he didn't tell her.
Piper sighed and stood up, she couldn't sit still any longer. She needed to get up and move she needed to do something with her hands. She walked into the nursery and checked on the twins and Shawn. Finding them sound asleep she walked to the window and stared out into the night. The sky was clear and the tops of the trees swayed gently in a soft breeze. There was a full moon and it cast an eerie glow over the yard and trees, making it seem like a winter wonderland, without the snow.
She surveyed her yard noting that she needed to cut the grass and plant some new flowers. She glanced over to the corner of the yard to a gliding bench surrounded by once lush wild flowers that had been slowly killed off with the coming frost. On the gliding bench she noticed the silhouette of a figure. It didn't move, it just sat, staring at the dead flowers.
"Piper? Are you there?" Cole's voice snapped her back to reality.
"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry," she answered. "Um, I've got to go, one of the kids woke up," she lied and clicked the on/off button again before he could protest.
She walked quickly down the hall, making sure David and Patience were sleeping soundly and grabbing a baseball bat leaning against the wall as she hurried downstairs. She opened the back door with a loud creak, and looked to the corner of the yard where the figure still sat, unmoving as if it hadn't heard the door open. She tiptoed over, the bat raised and ready to defend her sons and nieces with her own life against the intruder.
She'd nearly brought the bat bashing down onto the invader's head when she realized it was her sister. "Ohmigod! Phoebe!" she exclaimed. "God I almost had a heart attack!"
"Huh? What?" Phoebe asked jerking her head up to look at Piper. She couldn't see her face, for she was in the shadow of the moon behind her, but she could tell by her silhouette and stance that it was her. "Piper? What are you doing here?"
"I was checking on the twins when I looked out the window and saw someone sitting in my backyard," she indicated the baseball bat with a nod of her head and sat down on the gliding bench next to Phoebe. She tucked one leg under her and began rocking the chair back and forth slowly, waiting for Phoebe to speak.
Phoebe gave a little snort. "An all powerful witch with the power to freeze, make things explode, slow down time and back track time, needs a baseball bat to protect her against someone sitting in her backyard?" Phoebe asked. "Right."
"Don't ask it, was there," Piper shrugged. "So you wanna tell me what's wrong?"
"What makes you think there's something wrong?" Phoebe inquired.
"Other than the fact that you're at my house at 2:30 in the morning, sitting outside and staring off into space?" she shook her head. "You tell me."
Phoebe looked down, unable to come up with a response.
"Cole called," she added. "He said you had a premonition wouldn't tell him anything. Said he woke up and you were gone, wanted me to keep an eye out for you."
Again Phoebe didn't reply, she wasn't sure she was ready to tell anyone about Raven.
"He thinks you're scared of him Phoebe," Piper added, hoping to get it out of Phoebe just why she had left the Loft in the middle of the night.
"What? I'm not scared of him!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Why would he even think that?"
"Well you did lock yourself in the bathroom to get away from him," Piper shrugged. "Maybe that has something to do with it."
"I wasn't trying to get away from him," Phoebe corrected. "I was just. trying to be alone."
"Because.?" she prompted.
"Because. I needed to be alone?" she replied, unsure of her answer.
Piper sighed. "So I'm guessing I'm gonna have to beat it out of you?"
"No Piper, it's just," Phoebe gave a frustrated sigh. "I can't tell you."
"Sure you can, you've been telling me things since you learned to talk," Piper joked.
"Not this," Phoebe shook her head.
"Phoebs, I'm your sister. I've known you since you were born and since you could speak you've told me everything. You told me about how you kissed Jeffrey Thompson in the janitor's closet in eight grade, you told me you got drunk on your prom night, and you lost your virginity to your high school boyfriend Kevan. We've always shared everything even poison ivy and the chicken pocks. We've been through hard times together and good ones. Now no matter what your secret is I will still stand by you and love you forever. You can tell me anything Phoebe, I'm your sister."
Phoebe felt tears prick the back of her eyes for the thousandth time that night. She'd tell her part of it, but not all. "Bera told me she and Cole have a daughter and tonight I found out it's true." She'd managed to get it all out in one breath, before a flood of tears burst open.
Piper stared in surprise at Phoebe. Whatever she'd expected to hear from Phoebe, this was a far cry from it. She wasn't exactly sure whether to feel angry or scared.
"Wow, I so was not expecting that," Piper replied and took a deep breath. "Um, okay. W-we just have to think, Phoebe, think."
Phoebe sniffled. "What do you think I've been doing for the past three hours?"
"Right, sorry," Piper gave her a firm nod. "Um, Paige can make a vanquishing potion."
"No," Phoebe shook her head. "I don't think I could kill her. Not knowing who she is."
"Phoebe, she's Bera's daughter!" Piper exclaimed.
"She's Cole's daughter too," Phoebe countered. "I can't kill something that's apart of my husband. If you found out Leo had another child would you kill it?"
Piper snorted. "If Leo had another kid I'd kill him."
"In the literal sense Piper," Phoebe sighed.
Piper was silent for a moment. "You're right, I couldn't do it. But you would do if for me." She paused to let her words sink in. "All those years ago- No Phoebe look at me," Piper demanded when her sister looked away. "I know you hate talking about it, but you should talk about if every once in a while. All those years ago, I killed Bera because I saw the way you reacted to what she told you. I was afraid that you would be so upset you couldn't think straight. I was afraid Bera would take that chance and kill you. But I also did it because I knew you would never forgive yourself for killing your daughter's birth mother. If she attacks and you can't kill her. Be warned that Paige and I will."
Phoebe took a deep breath. Piper's words had hit home, but she wasn't straying from her beliefs. "If you kill her Piper, I will never forgive you."
"You've never forgiven me for killing Bera either," Piper replied.
"I know," Phoebe nodded silently.
Piper sighed. "Look, you can spend the night here tonight if you want. I'm sure Cole's had enough surprises for one night, he doesn't need to hear this tonight."
Phoebe nodded and let Piper lead her into the Manor, where she immediately fell asleep next to her daughter and dreamt nightmares about the woman she knew as Raven, and who now had a face.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so tell me what you think, and all that other stuff. Remember I'm open to suggestions. Please Review and I'll update soon.