After flicking off the light in the foyer, Paige started up the staircase, trailing her hand along the banister, which felt cool against her skin. At the top of the stairs she paused and stared apprehensively at the door to Phoebe's bedroom. In the dim light of the hallway, Paige could see light creeping out from under the door but she hesitated at knocking, uncertain of whether to offer support or to leave her sister alone. Before she could decide, the door opened and Phoebe emerged from her bedroom, stopping short when she noticed Paige.

"Hi. I was, uh, just on my way to the bathroom," Phoebe said gesturing down the hall. "But if you wanted to use it--"

"No, I was going to my room." Paige's eyes tried to hold her sister's, which wavered a little in awkwardness. "I didn't want to bother you, but I was wondering how you're doing."

Sighing, Phoebe crossed her arms over her stomach and leaned back against the doorframe. "I'm...okay. I don't think I've completely accepted yet that he's really gone for good this time."

Paige smiled softly. "I know what you mean."

Phoebe stared over Paige's shoulder past her sister at the wall for several moments, lost in thought. "You know, for months I've been so focused on pushing Cole out of my life. Making him evil in my mind made it easier for me to let go of him, but I also made myself forget everything that he's done for us." Laughing sheepishly, Phoebe's gaze returned to Paige. "I know you never liked Cole much--"

"But I remember everything he did to help us," Paige said reassuringly.

Heaving an aggrieved sigh, Phoebe closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I wish he would have told me about what happened with the Hollow. Maybe then I could have helped him and we wouldn't have had to go through--" Stopping herself, Phoebe smiled ruefully. "I'm doing it again. I can't keep blaming him for my mistakes."

"Phoebe..." Paige began.

"It's okay, Paige." Phoebe waved off her sister's concern. "I'm grateful for what Cole did today, and it's good to know that the future Sam was from won't happen. But that doesn't mean that the possibility of my...turning died with Cole. I can still feel it inside of me." Phoebe glanced shamefully down at the floor.

With an understanding look, Paige took Phoebe's hand in hers. "It's inside all of us."

Phoebe smiled dryly. "Yeah, but neither you or Piper have ever turned evil willingly."

"You never know," Paige said. "Different circumstances, we might have--"

Phoebe shook her head. "No. You wouldn't. Both of you care more about this family than yourselves. And that's something I need to do in the future."

After a few moments of silence, Paige gestured down the hallway towards her room. "I'm going to head to bed, but if you feel like talking some more I'll probably be awake for another half an hour or so."

With a smile Phoebe squeezed her hand in gratitude. "Thanks, Paige."

Paige turned to walk to her bedroom. "How's Piper?" At Phoebe's question, Paige paused and looked over her shoulder at her sister.

"She's...okay, I guess. She was freaking out when Sam was first missing, but Leo managed to calm her down a little after he checked with the Elders. She still seemed upset when she went upstairs though."

"Yeah. I heard her come up a while ago, but I wasn't sure if I should...I thought she might want to be alone with Leo." Glancing at the door to Piper and Leo's bedroom, Phoebe looked for light coming from beneath it but saw none. "Looks like she's all ready gone to sleep. I guess I'll talk to her in the morning." Phoebe's eyes met Paige's.

"Good night." As Paige moved quietly down the hallway, Phoebe stared intently at the door to Piper's bedroom until she heard Paige's door close. After a moment of consideration, Phoebe moved across the hall and silently turned the doorknob. Slowly, she inched the door open and peered into the dark of Piper's room.

As Piper lay in bed staring vacantly into the darkness, she noticed a strip of light appear and then grow wider as the door to her room opened. When a face filled the gap, she shut her eyes and feigned sleep until she heard it close again.

She had been trying to fall asleep for at least an hour, but sleep had eluded her; her mind seemed to almost hum with thoughts. So much had happened in one day that it almost seemed as though she was awakening from an intense dream. Only Piper had not just woken up or even gone to sleep.

She was trying to remember all of it--trying to make everything more real in her mind--only images kept fading, growing fuzzy and some things had disappeared from her memory completely.

A chill went through her and Piper shivered, pulling the comforter more closely around her. Beside her, Leo shifted. She heard him sigh and then grow silent and she thought he had fallen asleep again. Then Piper felt his hand on her side, his body pressing against her back, offering her warmth.

"You okay?" His voice did not sound groggy so perhaps he had not been sleeping as she had thought.

"Yeah. I just had a little chill." Piper leaned back against him and Leo moved his hand to protectively rest on her stomach.

"Do you want another blanket?"

"No. I'm better now."

Leo rested his head next to hers and Piper felt his warm breath against her neck. Her thoughts returning to Samantha, Piper placed a hand on top of Leo's that rested on her belly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Propping himself up on his elbow, Leo looked down at his wife.

Turning slightly, Piper gazed up at him. "Leo, I'm fine. It was just a chill--"

"No, I meant are you okay with everything?"

Piper sighed. "I'm not sure. A lot of stuff happened to day and everything's still sinking in."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." As he had been trying to fall asleep for the past several hours, he couldn't seem to make his mind shut off. His thoughts kept returning to his daughter. Leo glanced down to where, despite the blanket and comforter that disguised most of the shape of their bodies, he could still see the outline of Piper's stomach.

"Leo?" His eyes strayed back to Piper's face. "Are you sure there's no way that Cole's coming back?"

A little uncertainly, Leo heaved a sigh. "I don't think so. He was just a mortal when he died so he wasn't sent to the Wasteland. He shouldn't be able to come back like he did last time--his soul should have just moved on to the afterlife."

"You know, in a weird way, I'm going to miss him," Piper said, the corner of her mouth drawing back slightly in an ironic smile. "He's been a fixture in our lives for so long. Even as I remember all of the times he's tried to kill us, I can remember as many times that he helped us or saved us." Piper paused as tears began to form in her eyes. "He...saved..." She breathed deeply and Leo felt her squeeze his hand tightly.

"He saved our daughter," Leo stated, saying what Piper seemed unable to articulate.

With a self-deprecating laugh, Piper wiped the tears from her eyes. "Is it strange for me to miss her?"

Leo smiled softly. "No, I miss her too. But it's good to know that she's safe."

Shaking her head, Piper's chin quivered. "But we don't really know if she's safe or not. I mean, we might know that what brought her here won't happen because of the way she just vanished, but we don't know if this new future that we've created will be better or worse--" She paused when she felt her emotions swelling inside of her, threatening to overtake her. "I don't know what scares me the most, Leo: the thought of dying, the thought of losing you, or the thought of what our dying would do to our daughter. I never wanted her to have to go through what I did when my mom died, but I can't ignore that she might have to..."

As her emotions overwhelmed her, Piper began to sob, her ability to speak fading. Shushing her, Leo drew her more tightly against him and fit his face into the curve of her neck, pressing a kiss on her shoulder.

After a few moments, Piper managed to say through her tears, "I don't want to lose you."

"Shhh...you're not going to lose me," Leo whispered.

"But it seems like every time we have a glimpse of the future, in that future we've grown apart somehow. Doesn't it seem to you like something in the universe has decided that we just aren't meant to be?"

Leo remained silent for a while as Piper's sobs quieted. "No. It seems to me that something in the universe has decided that we need to stay together, and these glimpses that we've been shown are supposed to make us try harder to make that happen."

Considering his words carefully Piper tried to accept them--she tried to turn her despair into hope, her doubt into conviction.

"Leo." Leo lifted his head to look down into her eyes. "I love you."

A smile crept across his face and he gently brushed her hair back from her damp face. "I love you too."

Piper placed a hand on top of Leo's and pressed it firmly. "I'll remember that."

===========================

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I began this story after watching "Sam I Am" ("Daddy Dearest") and after it had been confirmed that Julian McMahon did not intend to stay through the end of season five. This story is basically how I envisioned Cole's death. The ending changed a bit as I wrote it, but my motives never did. I didn't write this story because I hate Cole and I want to plot out his death as many ways possible because his death(s) on the show were not enough for me.

I don't think that I altered any crucial law of the Charmed universe, with perhaps the exception of being able to kill Leo with a dagger dipped in darklighter poison instead of an arrow. But I figured since it was the future I could change things up a bit. The rest is just written from my viewpoint of certain events, such as why Cole did not tell Phoebe that the Source was inside of him in "The Three Faces of Phoebe." Feel free to disagree with my interpretations, but I think my viewpoints hold up against events that occurred on the show.

Thanks for reading my story.