Author's Note: Hey guys! I am EXTREMELY sorry that this chapter is so late. I had this chapter written about a week ago, but then I got grounded from the computer for 8 days, so I couldn't type it up and post it. Well, it's here now. I love all your reviews, thank you all for them.
CharmedFreak: I am so glad you loved the Piper/Leo moment, I really had a lot of fun writing that part.
Chapter 5
It wasn't until ten in the morning that Phoebe woke. She tried to get out of bed, but found it hard to move due to cramps in her lower abdominal region. For the past three days, she'd been having cramps and today they were worse than the previous few days. Phoebe knew that her period was coming up soon and accrued them to pre-menstruational symptoms. She slowly walked to the bathroom and filled a bottle with hot water, then carefully made her way down the stairs. She went into the kitchen, where Piper was reading the newspaper. "Hey honey, how are you feeling," Piper greeted her younger sister. Phoebe replied, downing some water after popping two Tylenol into her mouth, "Horrible, the cramps are at their worst. I'll probably start within a day or two. I'm going to lay down on the couch for a while." "Okay, do you want me to fix you something to eat?" Phoebe responded, "That would be great, Piper, thank you." The eldest sister hugged the younger gently, "No problem sweetie. Now get some rest." Phoebe went into the living room and laid on the couch, placing the warm water bottle just below her stomach. She closed her eyes and willed the pain to go away.
Fifteen minutes later, Piper came into the living room with a tray of eggs, toast, and orange juice. "Phoebe, wake up sweetie." Piper softly shook her sister's shoulders. Phoebe moaned as she carefully sat up. It was then that Piper noticed a circle of blood the size of a baseball mitt on the couch where her sister had been lying just moments before. "Uh Pheebs… Your prediction came true a little early," Piper told her, pointing to the large stain. Phoebe stood up, "I'm sorry Piper, I ruined the couch." "It's alright," Piper patted her sister's shoulder then recited a spell she knew all too well, "let the object of objection become but a dream as I cause the seen to be unseen." The blood disappeared and Phoebe headed upstairs to the bathroom to change her clothes.
Moments later, Piper heard a mirror-shattering scream. She raced upstairs, as best she could for being six months pregnant, to the bathroom to check on her younger sister. She yanked open the door and stopped in shock. There was a pool of blood all around Phoebe. She was pale with fright and her body shook uncontrollably. Piper covered her mouth for a couple seconds, "Oh my god that a lot of blood…" Phoebe started sobbing and Piper went to her, "Sh sh. It'll be alright. Take a warm shower and I'll clean this up. Afterwards, I'm going to call Paige and we're taking you to the hospital." Phoebe was very scared, she'd never had this heavy of a period before. True, her last one had been light, but not even the heaviest of all her periods had amounted to this much bleeding. As she stepped out of the shower, her legs felt weak and she almost collapsed to the floor, but Piper caught her. She helped her dry off and get dressed. Since she had lost a lot of blood and was still shivering, Piper wrapped her into a warm, thick blanket. It was then that Paige orbed in after Piper's strained callings, "What's the deal?" "We need to get Pheebs to the hospital. We're taking the car in case we need it. Paige, you drive since I can't fit behind the wheel anymore." With Piper's tone of voice, Paige knew to wait and her questions would be answered later after Phoebe had gotten help. She deduced that this all had to do with Phoebe's cramps.
Paige drove quickly but carefully through the streets. Piper sat in the back with Phoebe lying down, her head resting against the side of Piper's bulging belly. The eldest sister stroked Phoebe's hair and whispered in her ear, "It's going to be okay, honey. This is just a very heavy period. It'll be alright…" Minutes later, the middle sister went limp in Piper's arms. She tried to wake Phoebe from her unconscious state by careful shaking and gentle slaps to the face. "Pheebs, come on sweetie, wake up. Paige, how much longer until we get there?" Paige kept her eyes on the road, but frequently darted them to the backseat towards her two elder sisters, "Uh, about fifteen to twenty minutes. The enormous traffic for this time of day is very unusual." Phoebe started to slowly open her eyes after three minutes of Piper trying to revive her. "You need to stay awake Pheebs. Try talking, that should keep you awake," Piper suggested. In a hoarse whisper too faint for the other two sisters' liking, Phoebe replied, "I'll try."
After what seemed hours, they reached the San Francisco Memorial hospital. Paige parked the car and they both carried Phoebe into the emergency room. Once they had signed in, three nurses and a doctor wheeled Phoebe away on a gurney. Piper and Paige followed, answering the doctor's questions as they rushed through the halls. "Is she allergic to any drugs?" Piper responded, "No." He asked next, "What happened to your sister Mrs. Halliwell?" Piper replayed everything that had been happening the past three days, leaving out no details. "Thank you, that is all the information I need to know for now. Once I get your sister stabilized, I will come out to talk to you about what we need to do," the doctor said as they neared the trauma room.
One and a half hours had passed when the doctor finally came out into the waiting room and called the Halliwells' name. "I believe we didn't meet properly before. I'm Dr. Greene," he shook both sisters' hands. "Is she alright," Piper asked fearfully. Dr. Greene responded, "Yes, for now she is. She has lost a great amount of blood, but we succeeded in stopping the bleeding. Your sister may need a blood transfusion, are either of you AB negative blood type?" "I am. Can we see her? Is she conscious," Piper asked. "Yes she is, I will take you to her in a minute. We need to run some tests on your sister. I'll start with blood work, a urine test, and a pelvic examination. If I have to, we'll do an abdominal and pelvic ultrasound as well. When the results get back, I will return with a diagnosis. Follow me, your sister's room is just down this hall," the doctor instructed. When they entered, Paige gasped at the sight of Phoebe. Her skin was as pale as the white sheets she was laying on and her eyes were red-rimmed from crying with dark circles under them. They both hugged her, all three women cried together, all scared at what the results of the tests would reveal. They talked until Dr. Greene came to do the pelvic exam, at which the two sisters left. Piper and Paige returned to the waiting room after visiting the cafeteria for something to drink. The silence between them and thoughts of Phoebe weighed heavy upon their shoulders. Piper began to sob and Paige wrapped her arms around her sister, "It'll be alright. Phoebe will be okay, Dr. Greene said so." "No Paige, you didn't see all the blood… something is wrong, I can feel it," Piper said as she placed a hand over her heart.
"Mrs. Turner?" Dr. Greene asked as he strode into Phoebe's hospital room. She replied, "Yes?" "The results from your other tests have returned. As I have seen, you and your sisters are very close. Would you like them in here when I give my diagnosis?" "I would, please, and thank you." Dr. Greene responded, "Okay, I'll go get them and be back in a few minutes." Paige, Piper, and the doctor entered five minutes later. Phoebe could see the fear in her sisters' eyes. She could tell that Piper had been crying by the redness of her eyes and the flush of pink color in her cheeks. Phoebe reached out to them and each sister took a hand on either side of the hospital bed. Paige and Piper kissed Phoebe on the forehead then all three anxiously waited for the doctor's news. "After reading the test results and performing the pelvic exam, my diagnosis is that you're having a miscarriage," Dr. Greene told them. Tears sprang to each woman's eyes. "Is my baby alright, can you save my child," Phoebe asked, tears falling heavily now. "I'm sorry, there was nothing I could do. Most of the fetal and placental tissues have already been expelled from your body, which is why you were bleeding so much. There are still some uterine tissues in your body that need to be flushed out. We cannot give you drugs for that, however, we can give you some for the pain. I think the remaining tissue should be out in two to three days, but it differs from woman to woman. During this time, while you are bleeding, I want you to stay on bed rest. When the bleeding is very light, you may walk around a bit, but no strenuous activity. Wear sanitary napkins that are long and thick. If it has not stopped by next week, I want you to come back in. Here's the prescription, you can get it filled in the hospital's pharmacy. I'm so sorry for your loss, I wish there were more I could've done." He turned and started to walk away. "Wait, Dr. Greene," Phoebe asked, "how… how far along was I?" He replied, "It was hard to tell due to most of the tissue already gone, but I estimated it to be about three weeks." Phoebe questioned, "What caused my miscarriage, do you know?" "I'm not sure. In miscarriages, many factors can come into play. The fetus could have not been developing right or had abnormalities. Stress and large amounts of consumed caffeine such as coffee can trigger it as well. Usually, it is more than one thing though," Dr. Greene explained, then replied softly, "If you don't have anymore questions, I'll go sign your discharge papers." Phoebe nodded and he walked out. Her face and body felt numb. 'Three days…' she thought, 'three days I've been having a miscarriage and I didn't even know I was pregnant!' Everyone was silent for a few moments, the older and younger sisters not sure what to say. "Don't tell Cole," Phoebe said in just above a dry whisper. Disobeying what their minds were telling them and following their hearts, both Piper and Paige nodded.
It had been two days since the hospital crisis. The sisters had given Phoebe some distance, uncertain if she wanted to be held, comforted, or left alone. Cole was very worried about his wife. For two nights she had slept on the couch and she wouldn't talk to him. He began to wonder if she was mad at him for some reason. True to their word, Piper and Paige hadn't told Cole about the miscarriage, even though they pleaded with themselves to do so, they all had to help Phoebe out of this, including Cole. The younger and older sisters knew Phoebe wasn't dealing with her pain and emotions well. She wouldn't talk or eat. She would only cry except for when Cole was around. Once her husband had left in the morning, all Phoebe did was lie in bed and stare out the window or at the ceiling.
Later that night, Cole came home from work, tired from the day. He set down his briefcase and surveyed the rooms, finding no one. Entering the kitchen, he found a note on the counter, 'Paige and I went to the store. Back in a while, Piper.' Cole climbed the stairs to the bedroom he shared with Phoebe. He quietly opened the door and saw his wife standing by the window, gazing out at the city. His face brightened when he saw this. Maybe she was feeling better, he reasoned. Cole's presence went unnoticed by Phoebe as he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around his wife's waist, hugging her from behind. "Hey baby," he greeted, kissing the back of her head, "you're out of bed. Are you feeling better?" All he received was silence. He continued, kissing her in the neck and on her shoulders. They hadn't made love in nearly a month. Both of their demanding jobs and demons had seen to that. He longed for her gentle touch, to feel her closeness. Cole slipped his hands under her shirt, wanting to run them along her body, to caress her silky smooth skin. His fingers had just brushed across her abdomen when Phoebe let out a choked cry, pulling away from his embrace, sobbing as she ran to lie on the bed. Going over and sitting down next to his wife, rubbing the side of her arm, he asked concernedly, "Baby, what's wrong?" He was faced with silence again, except for Phoebe's increasing cries. "Please tell me honey. Are you mad at me, did I do something wrong? I don't like seeing you like this sweetie. I hate not talking to you, I hate not holding and kissing you. Tell me," he pleaded with her. "No Cole," she simply said between sobs. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what was wrong with his wife and it was killing him not knowing. "You won't tell me," he asked, hurt. Phoebe replied, "No, I'm not mad at you." "Then why won't you tell me what's going on with you! Dammit Phoebe, I'm your husband, I love you," his shout trailed to a whisper as his own tears began to fall. "I had a miscarriage two days ago," she said, sniffling through her tears. Cole stared at her in shock and disbelief, "What?" Surely his wife couldn't have been pregnant and not told him. As if she read his mind, Phoebe replied, "I was only three weeks, I didn't know. That was why I kept having those cramps. On Friday, I started bleeding really heavily. I just thought it was a bad period, but when I went to the bathroom to change clothes, blood came gushing out. God Cole, there was so much blood… I was so scared. Paige and Piper took me to the hospital and that's how I found out." Cole hugged her, "Oh honey, why didn't you want to tell me?" "I knew you'd be disappointed, I know how much you want a baby, Cole. If I had known… god, I would have done anything to still have that baby inside me. I want a baby so badly," Phoebe explained, starting to cry once more. "Sh honey, we can try again later, when you're ready. A child would be amazing, but as long as I have you, I'm the happiest man in the world." Phoebe uttered a soft 'I love you' in his hear. With a teasing glint in his eyes and a smile on his face, he gently placed a hand on her stomach, surprised that she didn't flinch at his touching her there. "If I have anything to do about it, we'll soon have another little baby in here, and I'll make sure it doesn't come out until it's supposed to." He kissed her forehead. Phoebe chuckled low in her throat. She sighed, relieved that the weight she'd been carrying on her shoulders had been lifted. "Cole," Phoebe asked, getting his attention. "Yes sweetie?" "Hold me," she requested. "I'll hold you for the rest of my life Phoebe, the rest of my life…" he promised. They snuggled together and fell asleep.
Author's Note: Whew, long chapter! 12 pages handwritten and 8 typed up! That was one of my longer chapters, longer than chapter 4. Chapter 6 will probably be set about 3 months later. It will mostly involve Piper and Leo, about the birth of their child. What do you guys think it will be? Boy or girl? Which do you want? I already have the gender picked out it my mind but I would like to see what your guys' opinions are. By the way, please review! I love reading all of them!