"Hello?" Piper slammed the door behind her as she came inside. *Good* she
thought,
*No one's here. Maybe I should get Leo.* She was flipping through the mail,
with the usual crap, and saw something interesting.
"Hmm, what's this?" she asked herself. It was a letter for Phoebe.
Phoebe Halliwell 1329 Prescott Street San Francisco, California 94102
In the corner, instead of a return address there was a strange symbol that look like the one on the BOS, only without the circle. "Leo?" Piper called, facing the ceiling. In a few moments, Leo shimmered into existence with a blue after-glow. "Hey, sweetie, what's goin' on?" Leo asked. "Umm," she started, snuggling up to him, "Is there a way you could open a thing, and then close it without anyone ever knowing that it was opened in the first place?" "And what is this 'thing'?" "A letter, hypothetically," said Piper quickly. "Oh, well then, hypothetically that would be unethical." Leo smiled at his wife. "Yes, but if it was important, could you... Hypothetically?" "Yes, I could, but it would still be unethical. Why?" Leo wondered out loud. "Well, there's this letter from someone to Phoebe, and it's got the Triquerta on the top left corner, instead of a return address, so I thought that since it might be dangerous, maybe we could read it?" Piper told him. "Alright, but you won't mention this to her or to Cole, right?" "No, way," Piper put her hands on her hips, and gave him that "I'm waiting" look. He hesitantly took the letter from her hands, and slowly waved his hand over the surface as it magically (duh) opened. "Thank you," Piper gave Leo a quick hug and kiss, and then took the letter out. "Well, I'd love to stay and read it, but they're calling me," Leo put his hands on her hips, and gave her a longer kiss. "But, you're going to be home for dinner, right?" " Of course, aren't I always?" Piper gave him a look, "Okay, always since we've been married, then." And with that he was just a bunch of blue dust in the air. Piper unfolded the letter and began to read it...
Dear Phoebe, We still have you baby here, and he's doing very well, but we're going to have to send him back to you. You know about our plane services, so you'll have to pick Joshua Halliwell up at the airport the day after you get this letter. We appreciate your monthly checks that you've been sending, but Jacob] has been sending us threatening letters about your son. Joshua is now 3 years old, and he will be wearing a bright blue jacket in the airport, and will be accompanied by two airline stewardesses.
Thank you, Pagan Childcare
"Oh my God," Piper felt like she was going to throw up. "Hello?" Phoebe yelled at the entrance to the Halliwell manor. *Oh, Shit* Piper thought, but as she looked down to close the envelope, she saw it was just as she had first seen it. "Hey," the youngest Halliwell walked in the sunroom and gave Piper a perky wave, "What's that?" she pointed to the letter in Piper's hand. "It came for you in the mail today," Piper handed it over. Phoebe opened, and started to skim it. "Ugh," she ran to the bathroom, and Piper could hear her throwing up. *Well, better her than me* part of her thought, but then the sisterly part thought *Come, don't be such a jerk, Piper, I bet she just forgot to tell you* *Yeah, right, like she would just "forget" something like that... I mean come on, like she COULD forget something like that!!!* Phoebe walked back in looking green. "Touch of food poisoning," Phoebe said, wiping her mouth with her long sleeved light blue t-shirt, and then she straightened her denim overalls. "Hmm, sorry." Piper tried to show sympathy. She looked into her sister's eyes, and saw that this was real, it was not some prank from one of her friends in New York, she really did have a baby in New York. And from what it sounded like, she had it with Jacob. Phoebe sat in her class, struggling not to close her eyes. Most other people in the class were sleeping. She stifled a yawn. "Ms. Halliwell!" Phoebe's eyes snapped alive, fully awake, "Would you like to explain why you are sleeping in my class?" questioned Professor Maligoare. "Well, sir, I was trying to pictures your explanation of the Chamber of Secrets in New Mexico," replied with a quick, smart answer... seeing as she was in geography. "We were discussing Bavarian goats in Egypt." "Aren't Bavarian goats originated in Europe?" "Yes, Ms. Halliwell, we were speaking of the migration process," said Mr. Maligoare. Phoebe was blushing to the point of no return when the bell suddenly shout out the signal that made seniors go wild, and freshman get nervous. "Ms. Halliwell, may I see you for a moment?" asked the vicious professor. Phoebe walked over to his desk, frightened. His cold blue eyes felt to Phoebe like sticks and stones. "One more outburst like that, and you will no longer be in my class," he said staring hatefully at Phoebe. "Yes, sir," Phoebe looked at her feet, and left the room. "Phoebe, wait!!!" she heard someone from behind her call, and spun around straight into Ben Chaffer, the SFCC football quarter-back. He had just bought Phoebe a Dr. Pepper, as he apologetically explained in the bathroom trying to get her get cleaned up, and he called her... "And then you - totally unexpectedly - just turned around and it fell all over you shirt, God, Phoebe, I'm so sorry," he said. "Why did you buy me a Dr. Pepper?" Phoebe was still caught up on the details. "Cause I heard that that-" he hesitated thinking, "that jerk Turner left you," Phoebe knew he had to struggle to call Cole only a jerk. "He did, but-" "See, now how could he do that?!?!? You are such a - a goddess, Phoebe, you deserve better than that." He might have gone further, but Phoebe decided not to let him. "Well, here's the thing - or - the 2 things; 1st of all, I'm a total witch... And 2nd thing - He came back, see I don't know where you heard about us, but he or she must not have known the whole story, see, I knew he was just leaving for a while. I'm so sorry," Phoebe felt a wave of guilt wash over her, "Really, I am." "Oh, tha- that's okay.... So I guess that means you probably wouldn't even consider dating someone else, huh?" he kept his head down as he said this, and Phoebe really didn't want to say what she had to. "No, I'm sorry," Phoebe turned away as he gathered his things and left. Phoebe sat for a moment, and then did the same. *************************************************************************** ***** As Phoebe put the car into gear, and backed out of that excellent parking spot she had been so psyched about that morning, she heard a loud, incessant honk from the purple Mazda Miata behind her. "Watch your back, lady!!!" said a kid with a maroon A&M cap and his head out the window. Phoebe squinted her eyes at him with her witchy look at him; She might be getting older, but at 24, "lady" was still WAY off. *From an Aggie, no less* Phoebe thought, *Oh well, might as well not waste any energy in being angry* "Why don't you watch it for me?" Phoebe questioned in the sexiest voice she could manage. The kid got out of his car, and walked towards Phoebe's. *That can't be good* she thought. In those 30 seconds it took him to reach Phoebe's borrowed Aztek (the jeep was in the shop), 10 thousand years seemed to pass. When he finally did get to the car, he leaned on the window, and Phoebe gave him the sweetest cheerleader "I don't know anything about nothing" smile she could muster. He turned away from her, and as he turned back, Phoebe gasped. "You- we- we killed you," Phoebe managed to stutter. "No, no, see you thought you killed me, and now I've come back for Balthezeor," and with the Aggie guy disappeared. Phoebe fumbled nervously with her cell phone and dialed her own phone number. "Hello?" she heard her brother-in-law's voice, and started tearing up with relief. "Leo, thank God, is Cole there?" "Yeah, he is, Phoebe- is there something wrong?" Leo sounded concerned, and Phoebe didn't feel like arguing, so she decided to tell him. "Um, Leo, do you remember the Triad?" "Yeah, we killed them." "No, we only thought we killed the ugliest one, as he kindly reminded me. Now can I please talk to Cole?" Leo handed the phone over to an anxious Cole. Phoebe described to him the dangers of staying in the house, and told him to go to the tomb in the cemetery again. "But Phoebe-" Cole began, but Phoebe cut him off. "No buts Cole, I'm even going to risk losing you." They said their good- byes, hung up, and Phoebe drove home as quickly as possible. She decided that if Cole was still home when she got there first; she'd ream his ass out, then she'd drive him to the police station and hand him over to Darryl, but as it turned out, Piper had taken him next door to Dan's. "Thanks piper, any uncalled-for visitors yet?" Phoebe said after everything was explained to her. "Nope, not unless you saw him one your way in." Piper commented. "That's a negative, over and out," and with that, Phoebe started running up the 2 flights of stairs leading to her room, but did a dangerous U-Turn when heard the doorbell ring. Ironically, she made it to the door first, and when she opened it (big surprise) there stood Darryl. "Hey, Darryl, what's goin' on?" Phoebe asked with a big smile. "Umm Phoebe, I need to talk to you about that thing you told me to pick up for you..." he said raising his eyebrows. "OK, Darryl, now is so-o not the time," Phoebe started to close the door, but Prue stepped in. "What 'thing'?" Prue was curious now, and we all know how Prue is when she gets curious. "Phoebe's-" Phoebe cut Darryl off by slapping her hand over his mouth. "Cole- My Cole... You know my boyfriend, Cole? I told Darryl to pick him up from Dan's," Phoebe kept her hand over Darryl's mouth. "Oh, OK," Prue turned and walked to the darkroom. "Did you just see that?" Piper asked in amazement. "I thought I was dreaming," said Phoebe. "She didn't argue," Piper was still watching Prue's wake as if she was still there. "Something must be wrong." Phoebe said, with a look of concern set upon her face. "Maybe she's just busy," Piper shrugged it off, and headed back to the kitchen, but Phoebe's look of concern didn't go anywhere. She sat there on the couch for a few minutes and just thought about Joshua, who was the real thing that Darryl picked up. (If you didn't catch onto that, shame on you) when Prue walked into the room fifteen minutes later, Phoebe was crying with her head in her hands. "Sweetie, listen," Prue sat down next to Phoebe, "I know you're lying about Cole... I just want to know what you're trying to hide. Look, Pheebs, I won't be mad at you, I promise." "You won't assume anything?" Phoebe looked a little doubtful. "No," Prue didn't hesitate. "You won't pretend to understand how I feel?" "No," yet again, Prue didn't hesitate in her answer, "But what if I do understand how you feel?" "You won't... Trust me." Phoebe wrung her hands together over and over as if it might help her. "Okay, I'll tell you-" But just as Phoebe made what she thought was the right decision, the phone rang. "Hello?" Prue beat Phoebe reaching over to the phone to Phoebe reaching over to the phone right next to them, "It's for you." She handed the phone to Phoebe. "Hello?... Oh, hey Darryl, yeah, OK, I'll be right over." Phoebe gave Prue a look that said *So sorry, but I'm still glad to get out of talking you* "Yeah, yeah, get out of here," Prue waved her away. Phoebe walked out the front door, and saw Leo getting out of his car. "Leo I thought you-" Phoebe her thumb at the house behind her. "I was, but then I had to go to the grocery store to get this-" He held up a bag of cucumbers. "Oh... Hey, Leo, can I borrow your car?" "Yeah, sure," He handed the keys to Phoebe, and headed up the steep lawn to the Manor. Phoebe got into the car and moved the seat up to where she could reach the pedals. Being 5' 2", she had a hard time with cars. She started driving, and got really nervous about picking up Joshua. She pulled into Darryl's newly paved driveway, and noticed that her hands were shaking. *What's the matter with you, Phoebe? Your hands never shake?* She ignored her conscience, and rang the doorbell. Someone that she couldn't see opened the door. "Oh, hey, (I don't know what Darryl's wife's name is, but she answered the door. If you know, please e-mail me), is Darryl available?" She said, peeking into the house. "Yeah, why don't you come in?" she asked. Darryl's wife disappeared and in a minute Darryl came back holding someone's very small hand. "Hey, don't be scared... remember what I told you before?" Phoebe had never heard Darryl speak so softly to anyone, and she almost started crying when she saw her little boy that she hadn't seen in 3 years. "Hi," Phoebe spoke meekly, and felt a tear coming to her eye when she saw the way Joshua clung to Darryl's leg... He was really scared. "Hi," he said with a timid wave. "Are you ready to come home with me?" she held her arms out, and was astonished when he came running into them. When he reached her, she picked him up and hugged him tightly. When she finally peeled him off of her shoulder and looked at him while she held him, he had a grin the size of Texas on his face, which put one on Phoebe's. "Phoebe, I got these for you-" Darryl looked up at the mother and son, and smiled, "I see you've already bonded, here I brought these out from when Alicia was little." He pointed to a car seat, and a juice no-spill cup. "Thanks... I think I'd better leave now... I'm dreading going back home and explaining, and staying here longer won't help," Phoebe waved at Darryl, "Say bye-bye to Darryl, sweetie." "Bye-bye Dawyl," Phoebe thought she had never heard of anything so precious when she heard Josh say his Rs as Ws. They walked out together, because Phoebe was carrying Joshua, and Darryl was carrying the car seat and juice cup. He set up the car seat for young Mr. Halliwell, and then went inside as soon as they were out of sight. "How you doin' back there?" Phoebe said, positioning her mirror so that she could see him properly. He gave her a crooked thumb-up sign, and smiled. "Good, are you ready to meet your aunts, Piper and Prue?" "I fink so," he said staring out the window as they passed the houses on Prescott St. They stopped at the Halliwell household, and then Joshua spoke up again... "Is this your house?" "No, it's our house, you live here too now." Phoebe noticed her hands shaking again. They walked in the front door, and Piper came in to greet her. "Phoebe- Whoa, who the Hell is he?" Piper asked. "Watch your language... he's........... my son".................................... "You're kidding, right?" Piper had a half-way smile on her face, "Ha, ha funny joke, now who is he?" Phoebe looked at over at Josh, who was already in the living room playing with the cat. "I'm not kidding Piper, I'm just stupid..." Piper ran over to give her sister a much needed hug. "No, you're not... You're not stupid... If you were stupid you would have put him in some program that just now rejected him..." Phoebe let out a sob, "Oh, honey," Piper pulled Phoebe away so that she could look at her, "It's okay..." "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you, I was just so scared, and glad to be leaving New York... But then Jacob started threatening to sue me and.... Other stuff-and I just didn't know what to do, ya know?" Phoebe still held tight to Piper's forearms. "Phoebe- what kind of "other" stuff?" Piper got that look of concern again. "If I told you something... Would you SWEAR that you would never tell Prue?" "Umm... Phoebe, if it's dangerous, we need to tell her..." "Well then, I can't tell you, Piper it's really important that you don't even mention this to Prue, do you understand?" Phoebe gripped Piper even tighter. "Yeah, Pheebs, what's going on?" Piper was a little bit scared. " He said that he would kill me if anyone found out that it was his baby... So PLEASE just leave it, alright?" Piper drew her hand away from Phoebe and pushed her hair out of her face. " And you were thinking you'd just wait for that to blow over?!?!? Phoebe, when a man threatens to kill you, you need to go to the police... Immediately!!!!" Piper shouted. "Piper, shh, Prue IS in the house, you know," Phoebe looked around nervously, and took a double take at the door way when and saw Prue standing there with Joshua by her side. "So, don't tell Prue... Do you guys always play this game? Where you wait and see how long it takes me to figure out that you've got a secret?" Phoebe was afraid of telling Prue because she thought she would be mad, but now she saw that Prue was just hurt that they didn't tell her. "Prue, I'm sorry, it's just that I knew you would have gone berserk, and you have enough going on in your life right now..." Phoebe suddenly became very interested in her shoes. "So, who's this?" Prue lifted Joshua's hand to signify that she was talking about him. "That's Joshua... Ethan... Halliwell..." Phoebe starting wringing her hands again. "And?" "And he's my son..." Prue muttered something about wishing that they had carpet floors and then passed out. Piper and Phoebe rushed over to her, and tried to wake her up. "Phoebe, go get some wet towels," Piper felt Prue's clammy forehead as she made this command. Phoebe ran to the kitchen, and went to the towel drawer. "What's wrong wif her?" Joshua asked. "She's just a little surprised to see you," seeing as this wasn't far from the truth, Piper didn't feel bad about telling him. "Okay, here you go, is there anything else I can do to help?" Phoebe had come back with semi-wet towels, and a candy bar. "What's that for?" Piper asked pointing the Hershey's chocolate. "The smell wakes people up sometimes, I thought we might try it..." "Oh, okay, why don't you help me move Prue to the couch, and then we'll figure out what we're going to do from there." Everything was going great until Leo orbed in, came up behind Piper. "Hey sweetie, Whatcha doin'?" unfortunately, Piper was carrying Prue's top end, and when Leo scared her like that, she dropped her on the floor. "Leo, dammit!!!" Leo gave Piper puppy eyes that said he was really sorry, but he didn't really have to be sorry. He was the one who woke Prue up. "Piper?" Prue rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Leo surprised me, and I dropped my end... I mean, we were carrying you, and..." Piper just gave up, "Oh, well... So how do you feel?" "Um... I'm okay, it's you guys I'm worried about...." Prue turned to Phoebe, "Were you serious? I mean, that, he's your son?" she looked towards Josh. Phoebe nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys, I just needed time, but that's not an excuse... Can you forgive me?" Phoebe started wringing her hands, yet again. "Of course... Phoebe, everyone makes mistakes, it's just that yours was a little bit bigger than usual," Prue sat up and gave Phoebe a hug, but she pulled away. "You're right..." Phoebe had a dreamy glaze over her eyes, the kind someone gets when they've just had an extraordinary discovery. "What?" "It's always me, it's always me that makes the huge mistakes. I'm the only thing that's holding you guys back from having a great life..." Phoebe got to her feet. "Phoebe- Phoebe, we DO have a great life, and our great life includes you... Without you, we'd be too serious.. We'd be nothing, come on Pheebs, please believe me, we NEED you, before when you left it was different..." Piper trailed off. "Why?" Phoebe knew what was coming. "Because, you- you- I mean- you-" Piper couldn't think. "Because I was the trouble-maker, I always have been, Piper, I've contributed nothing to this group... And now it just shows more, look I'm the only one without an active power, doesn't that tell you something, because it sure does for me!" Phoebe grabbed Josh and went upstairs. "Shit." and that was that.
********************************************************
"Phoebe!" Piper had come up to check on Phoebe after having a drawn out conversation with Prue. Piper cracked open the door slightly to find Phoebe crying on the edge of her bed. Joshua was playing with a miniature crane on the floor, and he turned around and grinned at Piper when she entered. "Sweetie, why don't you go play with your toy in the hall while Mommy talks to aunt Piper, Mmkay?" Phoebe gently pushed Josh up and out, and then looked tearfully at "Aunt Piper".
"This is totally my fault Piper. I'm sorry for putting you through all this trouble, you won't have to deal with me for much longer, I'm going back to New York," she said. "Pheebs-sweetie, this isn't trouble, it's what I live for! I mean, everyone has to learn certain lessons and pass them onto others so that they don't have to learn the same lessons. It's just the way life works," Piper sat on the bed with Phoebe, stroking her hair, "And I will NOT let you go back to New York!" "But Joshua needs a father. And Jacob is his father-no matter how much I wish he wasn't-he is," Phoebe rested her head against Piper's shoulder. "What about Cole? I'm sure he'd make a great dad!" Piper said, pulling away so that she could look Phoebe in the eyes, "That Jacob guy is just bad news. You can't let Josh grow up with a man like that as his father! Plus, where would we be with out you? We wouldn't know what to do if that movie demon ever came back, would we? We'd be stuck thinking 'Uh. Ok, Bloody Mary, Killer Lumberjack, who's next, Richard Simmons, Norman Bates, who?!?!' We'd be clueless, don't leave," Piper was starting to cry again, and she bit her lip to try and stop the tears that were threatening to come out. Phoebe looked horrible as another wave of nausea hit her, "Oh God!" she exclaimed. "What is it?" Piper asked, dumbfounded. "I still haven't told Cole!" Phoebe ran as quickly as possible to the restroom, and Piper knew when she heard the toilet flush what had happened. She'd been sick, again. Piper winced, it made her want to be sick herself. "You haven't even told Cole?" Piper was amazed, she thought Phoebe told Cole everything. to find out she didn't was like discovering that there's no Santa Clause of Tooth Fairy. "No," Phoebe didn't know what else to say.
Phoebe Halliwell 1329 Prescott Street San Francisco, California 94102
In the corner, instead of a return address there was a strange symbol that look like the one on the BOS, only without the circle. "Leo?" Piper called, facing the ceiling. In a few moments, Leo shimmered into existence with a blue after-glow. "Hey, sweetie, what's goin' on?" Leo asked. "Umm," she started, snuggling up to him, "Is there a way you could open a thing, and then close it without anyone ever knowing that it was opened in the first place?" "And what is this 'thing'?" "A letter, hypothetically," said Piper quickly. "Oh, well then, hypothetically that would be unethical." Leo smiled at his wife. "Yes, but if it was important, could you... Hypothetically?" "Yes, I could, but it would still be unethical. Why?" Leo wondered out loud. "Well, there's this letter from someone to Phoebe, and it's got the Triquerta on the top left corner, instead of a return address, so I thought that since it might be dangerous, maybe we could read it?" Piper told him. "Alright, but you won't mention this to her or to Cole, right?" "No, way," Piper put her hands on her hips, and gave him that "I'm waiting" look. He hesitantly took the letter from her hands, and slowly waved his hand over the surface as it magically (duh) opened. "Thank you," Piper gave Leo a quick hug and kiss, and then took the letter out. "Well, I'd love to stay and read it, but they're calling me," Leo put his hands on her hips, and gave her a longer kiss. "But, you're going to be home for dinner, right?" " Of course, aren't I always?" Piper gave him a look, "Okay, always since we've been married, then." And with that he was just a bunch of blue dust in the air. Piper unfolded the letter and began to read it...
Dear Phoebe, We still have you baby here, and he's doing very well, but we're going to have to send him back to you. You know about our plane services, so you'll have to pick Joshua Halliwell up at the airport the day after you get this letter. We appreciate your monthly checks that you've been sending, but Jacob] has been sending us threatening letters about your son. Joshua is now 3 years old, and he will be wearing a bright blue jacket in the airport, and will be accompanied by two airline stewardesses.
Thank you, Pagan Childcare
"Oh my God," Piper felt like she was going to throw up. "Hello?" Phoebe yelled at the entrance to the Halliwell manor. *Oh, Shit* Piper thought, but as she looked down to close the envelope, she saw it was just as she had first seen it. "Hey," the youngest Halliwell walked in the sunroom and gave Piper a perky wave, "What's that?" she pointed to the letter in Piper's hand. "It came for you in the mail today," Piper handed it over. Phoebe opened, and started to skim it. "Ugh," she ran to the bathroom, and Piper could hear her throwing up. *Well, better her than me* part of her thought, but then the sisterly part thought *Come, don't be such a jerk, Piper, I bet she just forgot to tell you* *Yeah, right, like she would just "forget" something like that... I mean come on, like she COULD forget something like that!!!* Phoebe walked back in looking green. "Touch of food poisoning," Phoebe said, wiping her mouth with her long sleeved light blue t-shirt, and then she straightened her denim overalls. "Hmm, sorry." Piper tried to show sympathy. She looked into her sister's eyes, and saw that this was real, it was not some prank from one of her friends in New York, she really did have a baby in New York. And from what it sounded like, she had it with Jacob. Phoebe sat in her class, struggling not to close her eyes. Most other people in the class were sleeping. She stifled a yawn. "Ms. Halliwell!" Phoebe's eyes snapped alive, fully awake, "Would you like to explain why you are sleeping in my class?" questioned Professor Maligoare. "Well, sir, I was trying to pictures your explanation of the Chamber of Secrets in New Mexico," replied with a quick, smart answer... seeing as she was in geography. "We were discussing Bavarian goats in Egypt." "Aren't Bavarian goats originated in Europe?" "Yes, Ms. Halliwell, we were speaking of the migration process," said Mr. Maligoare. Phoebe was blushing to the point of no return when the bell suddenly shout out the signal that made seniors go wild, and freshman get nervous. "Ms. Halliwell, may I see you for a moment?" asked the vicious professor. Phoebe walked over to his desk, frightened. His cold blue eyes felt to Phoebe like sticks and stones. "One more outburst like that, and you will no longer be in my class," he said staring hatefully at Phoebe. "Yes, sir," Phoebe looked at her feet, and left the room. "Phoebe, wait!!!" she heard someone from behind her call, and spun around straight into Ben Chaffer, the SFCC football quarter-back. He had just bought Phoebe a Dr. Pepper, as he apologetically explained in the bathroom trying to get her get cleaned up, and he called her... "And then you - totally unexpectedly - just turned around and it fell all over you shirt, God, Phoebe, I'm so sorry," he said. "Why did you buy me a Dr. Pepper?" Phoebe was still caught up on the details. "Cause I heard that that-" he hesitated thinking, "that jerk Turner left you," Phoebe knew he had to struggle to call Cole only a jerk. "He did, but-" "See, now how could he do that?!?!? You are such a - a goddess, Phoebe, you deserve better than that." He might have gone further, but Phoebe decided not to let him. "Well, here's the thing - or - the 2 things; 1st of all, I'm a total witch... And 2nd thing - He came back, see I don't know where you heard about us, but he or she must not have known the whole story, see, I knew he was just leaving for a while. I'm so sorry," Phoebe felt a wave of guilt wash over her, "Really, I am." "Oh, tha- that's okay.... So I guess that means you probably wouldn't even consider dating someone else, huh?" he kept his head down as he said this, and Phoebe really didn't want to say what she had to. "No, I'm sorry," Phoebe turned away as he gathered his things and left. Phoebe sat for a moment, and then did the same. *************************************************************************** ***** As Phoebe put the car into gear, and backed out of that excellent parking spot she had been so psyched about that morning, she heard a loud, incessant honk from the purple Mazda Miata behind her. "Watch your back, lady!!!" said a kid with a maroon A&M cap and his head out the window. Phoebe squinted her eyes at him with her witchy look at him; She might be getting older, but at 24, "lady" was still WAY off. *From an Aggie, no less* Phoebe thought, *Oh well, might as well not waste any energy in being angry* "Why don't you watch it for me?" Phoebe questioned in the sexiest voice she could manage. The kid got out of his car, and walked towards Phoebe's. *That can't be good* she thought. In those 30 seconds it took him to reach Phoebe's borrowed Aztek (the jeep was in the shop), 10 thousand years seemed to pass. When he finally did get to the car, he leaned on the window, and Phoebe gave him the sweetest cheerleader "I don't know anything about nothing" smile she could muster. He turned away from her, and as he turned back, Phoebe gasped. "You- we- we killed you," Phoebe managed to stutter. "No, no, see you thought you killed me, and now I've come back for Balthezeor," and with the Aggie guy disappeared. Phoebe fumbled nervously with her cell phone and dialed her own phone number. "Hello?" she heard her brother-in-law's voice, and started tearing up with relief. "Leo, thank God, is Cole there?" "Yeah, he is, Phoebe- is there something wrong?" Leo sounded concerned, and Phoebe didn't feel like arguing, so she decided to tell him. "Um, Leo, do you remember the Triad?" "Yeah, we killed them." "No, we only thought we killed the ugliest one, as he kindly reminded me. Now can I please talk to Cole?" Leo handed the phone over to an anxious Cole. Phoebe described to him the dangers of staying in the house, and told him to go to the tomb in the cemetery again. "But Phoebe-" Cole began, but Phoebe cut him off. "No buts Cole, I'm even going to risk losing you." They said their good- byes, hung up, and Phoebe drove home as quickly as possible. She decided that if Cole was still home when she got there first; she'd ream his ass out, then she'd drive him to the police station and hand him over to Darryl, but as it turned out, Piper had taken him next door to Dan's. "Thanks piper, any uncalled-for visitors yet?" Phoebe said after everything was explained to her. "Nope, not unless you saw him one your way in." Piper commented. "That's a negative, over and out," and with that, Phoebe started running up the 2 flights of stairs leading to her room, but did a dangerous U-Turn when heard the doorbell ring. Ironically, she made it to the door first, and when she opened it (big surprise) there stood Darryl. "Hey, Darryl, what's goin' on?" Phoebe asked with a big smile. "Umm Phoebe, I need to talk to you about that thing you told me to pick up for you..." he said raising his eyebrows. "OK, Darryl, now is so-o not the time," Phoebe started to close the door, but Prue stepped in. "What 'thing'?" Prue was curious now, and we all know how Prue is when she gets curious. "Phoebe's-" Phoebe cut Darryl off by slapping her hand over his mouth. "Cole- My Cole... You know my boyfriend, Cole? I told Darryl to pick him up from Dan's," Phoebe kept her hand over Darryl's mouth. "Oh, OK," Prue turned and walked to the darkroom. "Did you just see that?" Piper asked in amazement. "I thought I was dreaming," said Phoebe. "She didn't argue," Piper was still watching Prue's wake as if she was still there. "Something must be wrong." Phoebe said, with a look of concern set upon her face. "Maybe she's just busy," Piper shrugged it off, and headed back to the kitchen, but Phoebe's look of concern didn't go anywhere. She sat there on the couch for a few minutes and just thought about Joshua, who was the real thing that Darryl picked up. (If you didn't catch onto that, shame on you) when Prue walked into the room fifteen minutes later, Phoebe was crying with her head in her hands. "Sweetie, listen," Prue sat down next to Phoebe, "I know you're lying about Cole... I just want to know what you're trying to hide. Look, Pheebs, I won't be mad at you, I promise." "You won't assume anything?" Phoebe looked a little doubtful. "No," Prue didn't hesitate. "You won't pretend to understand how I feel?" "No," yet again, Prue didn't hesitate in her answer, "But what if I do understand how you feel?" "You won't... Trust me." Phoebe wrung her hands together over and over as if it might help her. "Okay, I'll tell you-" But just as Phoebe made what she thought was the right decision, the phone rang. "Hello?" Prue beat Phoebe reaching over to the phone to Phoebe reaching over to the phone right next to them, "It's for you." She handed the phone to Phoebe. "Hello?... Oh, hey Darryl, yeah, OK, I'll be right over." Phoebe gave Prue a look that said *So sorry, but I'm still glad to get out of talking you* "Yeah, yeah, get out of here," Prue waved her away. Phoebe walked out the front door, and saw Leo getting out of his car. "Leo I thought you-" Phoebe her thumb at the house behind her. "I was, but then I had to go to the grocery store to get this-" He held up a bag of cucumbers. "Oh... Hey, Leo, can I borrow your car?" "Yeah, sure," He handed the keys to Phoebe, and headed up the steep lawn to the Manor. Phoebe got into the car and moved the seat up to where she could reach the pedals. Being 5' 2", she had a hard time with cars. She started driving, and got really nervous about picking up Joshua. She pulled into Darryl's newly paved driveway, and noticed that her hands were shaking. *What's the matter with you, Phoebe? Your hands never shake?* She ignored her conscience, and rang the doorbell. Someone that she couldn't see opened the door. "Oh, hey, (I don't know what Darryl's wife's name is, but she answered the door. If you know, please e-mail me), is Darryl available?" She said, peeking into the house. "Yeah, why don't you come in?" she asked. Darryl's wife disappeared and in a minute Darryl came back holding someone's very small hand. "Hey, don't be scared... remember what I told you before?" Phoebe had never heard Darryl speak so softly to anyone, and she almost started crying when she saw her little boy that she hadn't seen in 3 years. "Hi," Phoebe spoke meekly, and felt a tear coming to her eye when she saw the way Joshua clung to Darryl's leg... He was really scared. "Hi," he said with a timid wave. "Are you ready to come home with me?" she held her arms out, and was astonished when he came running into them. When he reached her, she picked him up and hugged him tightly. When she finally peeled him off of her shoulder and looked at him while she held him, he had a grin the size of Texas on his face, which put one on Phoebe's. "Phoebe, I got these for you-" Darryl looked up at the mother and son, and smiled, "I see you've already bonded, here I brought these out from when Alicia was little." He pointed to a car seat, and a juice no-spill cup. "Thanks... I think I'd better leave now... I'm dreading going back home and explaining, and staying here longer won't help," Phoebe waved at Darryl, "Say bye-bye to Darryl, sweetie." "Bye-bye Dawyl," Phoebe thought she had never heard of anything so precious when she heard Josh say his Rs as Ws. They walked out together, because Phoebe was carrying Joshua, and Darryl was carrying the car seat and juice cup. He set up the car seat for young Mr. Halliwell, and then went inside as soon as they were out of sight. "How you doin' back there?" Phoebe said, positioning her mirror so that she could see him properly. He gave her a crooked thumb-up sign, and smiled. "Good, are you ready to meet your aunts, Piper and Prue?" "I fink so," he said staring out the window as they passed the houses on Prescott St. They stopped at the Halliwell household, and then Joshua spoke up again... "Is this your house?" "No, it's our house, you live here too now." Phoebe noticed her hands shaking again. They walked in the front door, and Piper came in to greet her. "Phoebe- Whoa, who the Hell is he?" Piper asked. "Watch your language... he's........... my son".................................... "You're kidding, right?" Piper had a half-way smile on her face, "Ha, ha funny joke, now who is he?" Phoebe looked at over at Josh, who was already in the living room playing with the cat. "I'm not kidding Piper, I'm just stupid..." Piper ran over to give her sister a much needed hug. "No, you're not... You're not stupid... If you were stupid you would have put him in some program that just now rejected him..." Phoebe let out a sob, "Oh, honey," Piper pulled Phoebe away so that she could look at her, "It's okay..." "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you, I was just so scared, and glad to be leaving New York... But then Jacob started threatening to sue me and.... Other stuff-and I just didn't know what to do, ya know?" Phoebe still held tight to Piper's forearms. "Phoebe- what kind of "other" stuff?" Piper got that look of concern again. "If I told you something... Would you SWEAR that you would never tell Prue?" "Umm... Phoebe, if it's dangerous, we need to tell her..." "Well then, I can't tell you, Piper it's really important that you don't even mention this to Prue, do you understand?" Phoebe gripped Piper even tighter. "Yeah, Pheebs, what's going on?" Piper was a little bit scared. " He said that he would kill me if anyone found out that it was his baby... So PLEASE just leave it, alright?" Piper drew her hand away from Phoebe and pushed her hair out of her face. " And you were thinking you'd just wait for that to blow over?!?!? Phoebe, when a man threatens to kill you, you need to go to the police... Immediately!!!!" Piper shouted. "Piper, shh, Prue IS in the house, you know," Phoebe looked around nervously, and took a double take at the door way when and saw Prue standing there with Joshua by her side. "So, don't tell Prue... Do you guys always play this game? Where you wait and see how long it takes me to figure out that you've got a secret?" Phoebe was afraid of telling Prue because she thought she would be mad, but now she saw that Prue was just hurt that they didn't tell her. "Prue, I'm sorry, it's just that I knew you would have gone berserk, and you have enough going on in your life right now..." Phoebe suddenly became very interested in her shoes. "So, who's this?" Prue lifted Joshua's hand to signify that she was talking about him. "That's Joshua... Ethan... Halliwell..." Phoebe starting wringing her hands again. "And?" "And he's my son..." Prue muttered something about wishing that they had carpet floors and then passed out. Piper and Phoebe rushed over to her, and tried to wake her up. "Phoebe, go get some wet towels," Piper felt Prue's clammy forehead as she made this command. Phoebe ran to the kitchen, and went to the towel drawer. "What's wrong wif her?" Joshua asked. "She's just a little surprised to see you," seeing as this wasn't far from the truth, Piper didn't feel bad about telling him. "Okay, here you go, is there anything else I can do to help?" Phoebe had come back with semi-wet towels, and a candy bar. "What's that for?" Piper asked pointing the Hershey's chocolate. "The smell wakes people up sometimes, I thought we might try it..." "Oh, okay, why don't you help me move Prue to the couch, and then we'll figure out what we're going to do from there." Everything was going great until Leo orbed in, came up behind Piper. "Hey sweetie, Whatcha doin'?" unfortunately, Piper was carrying Prue's top end, and when Leo scared her like that, she dropped her on the floor. "Leo, dammit!!!" Leo gave Piper puppy eyes that said he was really sorry, but he didn't really have to be sorry. He was the one who woke Prue up. "Piper?" Prue rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Leo surprised me, and I dropped my end... I mean, we were carrying you, and..." Piper just gave up, "Oh, well... So how do you feel?" "Um... I'm okay, it's you guys I'm worried about...." Prue turned to Phoebe, "Were you serious? I mean, that, he's your son?" she looked towards Josh. Phoebe nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys, I just needed time, but that's not an excuse... Can you forgive me?" Phoebe started wringing her hands, yet again. "Of course... Phoebe, everyone makes mistakes, it's just that yours was a little bit bigger than usual," Prue sat up and gave Phoebe a hug, but she pulled away. "You're right..." Phoebe had a dreamy glaze over her eyes, the kind someone gets when they've just had an extraordinary discovery. "What?" "It's always me, it's always me that makes the huge mistakes. I'm the only thing that's holding you guys back from having a great life..." Phoebe got to her feet. "Phoebe- Phoebe, we DO have a great life, and our great life includes you... Without you, we'd be too serious.. We'd be nothing, come on Pheebs, please believe me, we NEED you, before when you left it was different..." Piper trailed off. "Why?" Phoebe knew what was coming. "Because, you- you- I mean- you-" Piper couldn't think. "Because I was the trouble-maker, I always have been, Piper, I've contributed nothing to this group... And now it just shows more, look I'm the only one without an active power, doesn't that tell you something, because it sure does for me!" Phoebe grabbed Josh and went upstairs. "Shit." and that was that.
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"Phoebe!" Piper had come up to check on Phoebe after having a drawn out conversation with Prue. Piper cracked open the door slightly to find Phoebe crying on the edge of her bed. Joshua was playing with a miniature crane on the floor, and he turned around and grinned at Piper when she entered. "Sweetie, why don't you go play with your toy in the hall while Mommy talks to aunt Piper, Mmkay?" Phoebe gently pushed Josh up and out, and then looked tearfully at "Aunt Piper".
"This is totally my fault Piper. I'm sorry for putting you through all this trouble, you won't have to deal with me for much longer, I'm going back to New York," she said. "Pheebs-sweetie, this isn't trouble, it's what I live for! I mean, everyone has to learn certain lessons and pass them onto others so that they don't have to learn the same lessons. It's just the way life works," Piper sat on the bed with Phoebe, stroking her hair, "And I will NOT let you go back to New York!" "But Joshua needs a father. And Jacob is his father-no matter how much I wish he wasn't-he is," Phoebe rested her head against Piper's shoulder. "What about Cole? I'm sure he'd make a great dad!" Piper said, pulling away so that she could look Phoebe in the eyes, "That Jacob guy is just bad news. You can't let Josh grow up with a man like that as his father! Plus, where would we be with out you? We wouldn't know what to do if that movie demon ever came back, would we? We'd be stuck thinking 'Uh. Ok, Bloody Mary, Killer Lumberjack, who's next, Richard Simmons, Norman Bates, who?!?!' We'd be clueless, don't leave," Piper was starting to cry again, and she bit her lip to try and stop the tears that were threatening to come out. Phoebe looked horrible as another wave of nausea hit her, "Oh God!" she exclaimed. "What is it?" Piper asked, dumbfounded. "I still haven't told Cole!" Phoebe ran as quickly as possible to the restroom, and Piper knew when she heard the toilet flush what had happened. She'd been sick, again. Piper winced, it made her want to be sick herself. "You haven't even told Cole?" Piper was amazed, she thought Phoebe told Cole everything. to find out she didn't was like discovering that there's no Santa Clause of Tooth Fairy. "No," Phoebe didn't know what else to say.