Chapter Twenty-Two

"Slow down, Paige," Piper told her sister. "What do you mean a demon's taken her?"

"Which one?" Cole demanded.

"I don't know," Paige replied in a tense voice, "and we don't have time to find out be--"

"Why," Cole asked sharply, "what else happened?"

"The orbing," Paige answered in a rush, "I think it sped up her labor or something."

Piper cast a worried glance to Cole who seemed to pale immediately. "What do you mean?"

"As soon as I orbed us here," Paige explained, "she had a contraction, a major contraction. When it was finally over, I managed to get her to the bed and, by the time I found her a clean nightgown, she'd had another one."

"How was she?" Cole asked.

"How the hell do you think she was?" Paige snapped.

"Paige" Piper warned.

"Sorry," Paige sighed. "Look, all I know is that as soon as she got changed, she had another contraction. That's three major contractions in about six minutes."

"Before, her contractions were, at the very least, five minutes apart," Piper considered. "They couldn't have gotten down to two minutes so fast."

"It had to be the orbing," Paige decided. "Which means that, wherever she is now, she could be delivering the baby."

"We have to find her and fast," Piper turned to Leo.

Leo closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. "I can't sense her anywhere. She's being blocked somehow."

Cole clenched his fist and let loose an energy ball. The others quickly ducked as Phoebe's wall mirror exploded. "Sorry," he muttered.

"We'll find her," Piper assured him as she placed a calming hand on his arm.

"But, Phoebe --" he began.

"Will be all right," Piper promised.

Paige quietly said, "I just wish I hadn't scared her more than she already was."

"What do you mean?" he warily asked.

"When I realized how close the contractions were," Paige admitted, "I told her there was no way she'd be able to get to the hospital. She couldn't risk orbing there and you know how she feels about having the baby in the house." Paige grew more upset as she continued, "I didn't even think about what I'd said. The words just slipped out and I couldn't apologize fast enough. She nearly hyperventilated on me when she realized she was stuck in the house and the only reason she didn't is because she was hit with another contraction."

"I shouldn't have left her alone," Cole commented as he shook his head with guilt. "She didn't want to be alone. After everything she'd been through today, she was so scared. I should've stayed with her. I could've stopped this."

"We'll find her, Cole," Piper repeated. "She'll be okay and so will the baby. We won't let anything happen to them."

"Map and crystal," Paige suddenly announced as the city map and scrying crystal orbed into her hand. She spread the map on Phoebe's bed and stood over it with the crystal in hand.

"What about the demon?" Cole asked her as he tried to focus on helping Phoebe. "Who was it?"

"I don't know," Paige admitted as she watched the crystal circle the map.

"Well, what'd he look like?" Piper questioned as she nervously watched Cole.

"I don't know," Paige answered as she stared at the map, "I didn't see anyone."

"What do you mean?" her sister anxiously asked. "It was invisible?"

"I'd turned away to call Ava and," Paige replied as she watched, in frustration, the crystal spin endlessly, "while I waited for Ava to pick up, I turned back to Phoebe and caught the end of her shimmering out. I didn't see anyone, just the air shimmering."

"What?" Cole practically shouted as he suddenly grabbed her arm. "Are you sure?"

"Owww," Paige complained as she dropped the crystal and yanked her arm back. "Yes, I'm sure. Why?"

"Because it wasn't a demon that took her," Cole nearly grinned with relief. "It was the baby!"

"What?" Piper shouted. "Since when does the baby have powers?"

"Since today," Cole stated in an almost proud tone. "She shimmered at the penthouse."

"That's how she was able to stab Hasoaf," Piper quietly realized. "The baby created that athame for her."

"So where would she go?" Paige asked as she picked up the crystal and began scrying again.

"Some place safe," Leo suggested. "If Phoebe was so afraid of having the baby in the house, the baby might've picked up on her fears and allowed her to go somewhere else. Somewhere she'd feel safe."

"The penthouse?" Paige suggested as she watched the crystal circle the map.

"No," Cole immediately answered, "she'd never go there. She'd never have the baby where I ruled as the Source."

"Oh no," Piper uttered.

"What?" Paige looked up.

"She couldn't," Piper whispered as she looked at Cole. "The only place she's ever considered safe"

"The mausoleum?" Cole wondered. "I'll be right back."

"She can't have a baby in a mausoleum," Piper nervously said to her husband. "Maybe you'd better get Ava now."

Paige thought a moment and asked, "But why couldn't Leo pick up her signal if she was there?"

"I'll --" Leo began.

"She's not there," Cole announced with frustration as he reappeared in the room.

"That's not possible," Piper worried. "There's nowhere else she'd go."

"What about that other safe place?" Leo asked Cole. Cole looked at him quizzically and Leo clarified, "In the penthouse, you told her to go to your other safe place."

Cole clapped Leo on the back, "Thank you, Leo! I can't believe I'd almost forgotten. I'm not used to thinking about it and --"

The others stared in shock as Cole shimmered out of the room in mid-sentence.

Piper grabbed Leo's arm, "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know," her husband admitted, "they never mentioned where that place was."

"Great," Paige muttered, "so we still have no idea where Phoebe is."

"At least we know Cole is with her," Leo considered.

"How do we know that?" Piper asked him.

"Because he shimmered out of here," Leo reasoned, "so it could only have been if the baby made it happen."

"So what do we do now?" Paige wondered.

"Continue scrying for her," Piper answered, "or hope that Cole contacts us first."

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