Last Chance

Notes: Paige and Phoebe never moved out but everything else in Chris Crossed has happened.

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Charmed, sadly, doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the WB network and all those happy people. Maybe one day. I can only wish.

Phoebe Halliwell awoke the next morning with a sense of calm, that is until she remembered the previous night events and put her pillow over her head.

"Phoebe wake up, you're going to be late for work!" Piper called from downstairs in the kitchen.

Phoebe sighed heavily and pulled her head out from underneath her pillow and blinked from the bright light shining in through her window. Then she slowly got dressed and made her way downstairs.

"Morning sunshine." Paige said to her sister sarcastically as she took a small bite of a red apple in her hand. Next to her was her trusty entertainment section of the newspaper that she had just finished reading.

Phoebe smiled while glaring at her, "Do you think we should do anything today? You know with Cole out there, what if he comes after one of us if we're separated?" She asked them worriedly.

Piper sighed, "Phoebe, if he is back, don't you think he's going to wait to attack? He has to come up with some sort of plan of action." She said as she finished washing the dishes and sat at the table next to her sisters, and Wyatt in his highchair.

"He's had enough time to come up with a plan of attack I'm betting, with wherever he went." Paige said

"You're such a booster in the morning." Piper said feeding Wyatt his breakfast.

"I try." Paige said then stood, "I've got a new temp. job I'm starting today, so I don't want to miss my first day. I have my phone," She stopped and showed them, "so if you guys need me call and I'll orb back."

They said their goodbyes and Paige made her way out to her car. She had the address of her new job in the car, she looked at it, and in big letters across the top it said Stanley and Wilde Attorneys at Law. She was the secretary to the newest attorney on the team. From what she had heard he left town for a while for some down time, and now he was back with the new job.

She turned the steering wheel in her hands and then pressed on the brakes when she came to a red light right across the street from the building. It was tall and made of red brick, and it didn't look imposing at all.

"Maybe nothing strange will happen at this one." Paige said under her breath to herself, she hoped that would be just the case.

Than, a few minutes later after she had parked her car she walked up the small steps and into the building foyer. There was a large desk at the back wall where a small woman sat, answering phones and controlling who entered the building. The lobby was full of potted trees and vases, they apparently enjoyed nature and Paige already liked it.

"Hi, I'm Paige Matthews. I'm the new secretary..." She said trailing off with a smile on her face.

"Oh hello Ms. Matthews, I've been expecting you this morning. I'll show you to your office and from there you will meet your new boss." The woman smiled warmly and stood up from her large computer chair, "By the way my name is Sandra Woods, just thought I would introduce myself." Sandra looked to be as old as Paige give or take a few years. She had blonde hair that fell just above her shoulders, and blue sparkling eyes.

They walked down the hall next to her desk which led to room upon room where the secretaries and attorneys worked. Finally, they reached the end of the hall and came to an almost empty room connected to a room with a closed door.

"This will be your office, and there's your computer and here's the filing cabinet..." Sandra said pointing out the various objects for Paige to use, "So I'll let you get acquainted with your new boss and set up everything the way you want." She smiled and walked away.

Paige looked around the room; it was very plain and businesslike. Soon enough it would be filled with pictures of her family and various other trinkets. She sat down in her computer chair and waited for her new boss to come out. She didn't know if they were busy or not, so she didn't want to interrupt them. Paige looked inside the drawers in her desk and there were all the necessities: a stapler, scissors, pens, pencils, paper, memo pads, paperclips, and other things she might need to use.

Paige stood up and walked over to her window to open the curtains and let the light shine in. She pulled back the drape into its holder, and then the door to the other office opened. She jumped and turned around, "Oh hi I'm Paige..." She began than trailed off. The man came into her field of vision, and she immediately realized who it was: Cole.

"Scissors!" She shouted and the scissors orbed and she motioned her hand to send them flying at him. Before they could reach him, he turned into bright orbs and then back to place after the scissors had fell.

Paige put her hand over her mouth in astonishment, what was going on?

"Paige, please don't do that!" Cole said shaken, he stepped forward and Paige stepped back. He stopped, "It is ok..."

"No, no it is not ok. We vanquished you, you are a demon, and you are dead. How did you orb?" Paige asked running her fingers through her hair, still in shock.

"I'm not a demon anymore," Cole began, "I'm a whitelighter."

"That's crazy! Who in their right mind would make you into a whitelighter? You've got to have some sort of twisted plan to get Phoebe back or kill us or something!" Paige said beginning to shout.

"No, no I'm not. I didn't plan any of this, I thought I was going to be dead to when you vanquished me, but I guess the Elders had other plans. I was up there the whole time." He said pointing to the ceiling.

Paige backed up into her filing cabinet and cut her shoulder on its sharp edge, "I'll prove it to you! I'll heal your arm." Cole said putting his hands together ready to heal for the first time.

"I don't think so buddy." Paige said and touched the cut and winced, "Ok, I'll let you try, but if you do anything to hurt me I will get my sisters and we will vanquish you again."

Cole walked forward while Paige kept her gaze directly on him, waiting for him to try something...anything. He put his hands up to her shoulder where the cut was and concentrated on the trigger, love. He concentrated on what he once had with Phoebe and his hands began to glow the gold color and soon her wound disappeared. Paige was astonished.

"You did it. You're a whitelighter, but how?" She asked looking at him, trying to trust him now, but she couldn't do it so easily.

"They said my human me needed another chance. It's my last chance they said. If I screw up again, I'm done for."

"I have to tell Phoebe and Piper!" Paige said quickly pulling out her cell phone and getting ready to speed dial the manor.

"No!" Cole shouted his eyes wide, "I didn't plan on any of you finding out. All I was going to do was take care of my charges." He paused, "I don't want to hurt her again." He turned away from Paige.

"You won't hurt her, how could you hurt her? You're an angel now!" Paige said trying to assure him it was the right thing to do.

"No, no one can know, not Phoebe, not Piper, not even your new whitelighter."

"How do you know about Chris?" Paige asked confused.

"They kept me informed." Cole said simply, and that was just what they did. They had let him watch and feel all of what had happened through Phoebe's eyes, to show him that she had changed and wasn't the same person that she was before. They showed him to get her out of his mind and heart, so he wouldn't go running after her once they made him a whitelighter.

Paige looked at him, surveying the man that he had become. How could she trust someone who had been so evil? She was still unwilling, but the whitelighter side of her was urging her to give him a chance, "I don't know what to think."

Cole's eyes flashed with a brilliant blue and went back to normal; he had a dazed look across his face. "Well for starters, my name is Cole Turner and I guess I'm going to be your new boss." He said extending his arm forward a formal smile upon his face.

"Wow, real funny Cole, I'm trying to be serious..." Paige began putting her hand on his shoulder.

Cole stood straighter, "I know if in past jobs you may have had close relationships with your employer but I would like to keep this as businesslike as I can." He said with what Paige thought was sincerity.

"Do you have amnesia or something?" Paige sighed exasperated.

"What?" Cole asked good-naturedly.

"Never mind." Paige mumbled feeling defeated.

What is going on with him she asked herself and pulled her hand away and put on her best smile, maybe he was actually losing his mind...again. "Oh...uh...Mr. Turner you know, I was just messing around trying to lighten up this meeting. I guess I'll get to work with whatever you have for me to start with."

"Oh its fine, it's fine. I'll just have you add all my clients' files to the computer; you know phone numbers addresses all that good stuff. It'll just start off simple for today; I don't want to throw you into mounds of work for your first day. That would be pretty cruel."

"You don't like cruelty?" Paige asked taking the opportunity to question him during his lapse of memory. Perhaps one of her sisters had cast a truth spell of some sort gone awry? It didn't seem likely but it was always possible. Now Paige was starting to feel vulnerable and her adrenaline that had been building was running off, and to tell the truth she wished her sisters were there.

"Of course I don't!" Cole laughed, "I was wondering what kind of reputation this place had, and I didn't know it was that bad."

Paige nodded with the smile still plastered across her face.

Cole walked into his office and closed the door. Paige backed against the wall and stared at it, waiting for him to jump out and yell surprise, the joke was on her. He never did. Whatever was going on with him now must be worse than the last time around when he lost it, she thought bitterly. It was just her luck to get stuck with him again; the powers that be always had a funny way of kicking her in the butt.

She figured she wouldn't call Piper or Phoebe and get them worried, for now it seemed she was safe. Trying to be as casual as possible, she walked over to her desk and turned on the computer ready to face the reality that she was actually at work...and that involved doing work.

Cole opened his office window and stuck his head out with his hands on the ledge. He was breathing heavily and he felt as if he was going to pass out.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked himself under his breath. He wiped his face with his sleeve where small droplets of sweat had seemed to appear.

Clear your thoughts, concentrate, he told himself. He was a whitelighter and whitelighters knew how to calm others down, and themselves in situations where they were under large amounts of stress. The thing was he didn't know why he was feeling under so much stress all that had happened was he met his new secretary. It wasn't like he knew her from anywhere did he? Of course he couldn't have, he died, and he was up there. They decided he was worthy to become a whitelighter because of all the good he had done when he was alive. That was it wasn't it? He asked himself this over and over. This was the only way people were chosen to be whitelighters in the first place.

The funny thing was, he couldn't remember anything that had happened while he was alive. He couldn't remember the first half of his conversation with the new secretary Paige either.

"It's a test, they're testing me. Maybe she's a new charge and I'm supposed to guide her." He said to himself confidently. Yes that was it. He was supposed to lead this girl to the right path, but there was a problem. He couldn't keep his mind on anything but one name; a name that seemed so familiar, but was slipping his memory.

Phoebe.

Please read and review, if you like it, if not. I know this isn't exactly what the summary said it would be like...but my ideas changed, so I hoped for the best.