Chapter-8 Fixer Upper

Cole and Phoebe looked up to look at Piper. At least, one of the many Pipers. 'She looks so much like Piper, but there's something different,' Phoebe thought looking her over.

"What?" AR Piper asked, when she caught Phoebe staring at her.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that you look a lot like our Piper in our reality. The only difference would be you look like you did before you had Melinda." Phoebe explained, as AR Piper's face contorted into one of suspicion, into one of shock.

"What?!" Piper asked shocked. She had always wanted a child, especially when she saw Melinda when the Elders had transported them to the future.

"What?!" AR Leo exclaimed, astonished. Phoebe knew that he had always wanted a child, and he seemed very shaken from the discovery that he was going to have a child with Piper in another reality.

"Yeah, you're pregnant. Congratulations, again, and you too Leo." Phoebe said, realizing that AR Piper was shocked to hear that. Phoebe chuckled at the thought that her sister didn't know that she had a child.

"Yeah, congrats Piper, especially since I didn't find out about it, because no one bothered to tell me." Cole muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry Cole, I'll be sure to tell you about any news." Phoebe said, teasingly mocking him with a baby voice.

"Why thank you Phoebe." Cole mockingly thanked her. He was trying to restrain a smirk, but lost after a few seconds of looking into Phoebe's eyes. He broke into a smile and began grinning at her madly.

Phoebe smiled back at him, not able to keep a smile back.

"Are you two an item?" AR Piper asked suspiciously, happy that somewhere, Cole and Phoebe could be happy.

"Um…" Cole said, uncomfortably. He glanced up at Phoebe, looking at her apologetically. She looked back at him with understanding in her eyes.

"It's okay Cole, she doesn't know." Phoebe said, showing that she didn't mind the question. "You see Piper, we aren't together, we're just friends. We decided to be just that because well, I wasn't ready for anything deeper." Phoebe confessed, turning to the AR Piper. AR Piper had a look that showed that she was in deep thought.

"So…what are you up to in your reality?" AR Piper asked, noticing that she was starting to make the other Cole a little uncomfortable.

"Well, Cole is the guardian to a Hell Gate, and my sisters and I have to help him protect it." Phoebe replied calmly, as though it were a normal, everyday topic of discussion.

AR Piper certainly thought it wasn't, because she was gaping at them, as though they had a third eye.

Phoebe looked up to see her face, and she could barely contain her laughter.

AR Piper looked at Phoebe and gave her a glare. Phoebe's reaction was the complete opposite of what she was aiming for. Instead of stifling her laughter, she fueled it, and Phoebe had to bend over and clutch her stomach because of the pain of laughing so hard. Cole looked at her, and her laughter was contagious, and he began laughing also. Their laughter subsided after a few minutes of blissful happiness.

Cole glanced at this AR version of himself. He seemed almost exactly as Cole, except there were a few lines of exhaustion, and a gleam of sadness shone through his eyes. Cole kept catching him glance at Phoebe constantly, and he could imagine what this alternate version was thinking.

"Hey, Phoebe, do you mind if I go and talk to myself for a few minutes?" Cole asked, with a tone of seriousness, though his eyes shone of a joke.

"All right, as long as you don't go do anything drastic that will earn yourself a ticket to a mental institute." Phoebe called back jokingly at his retreating form.

"Ha, ha, very funny Phoebe." Cole responded dryly, though he hid his own smile.

He entered the kitchen to fine the AR Cole grabbing himself a drink.

"Hey do you mind if I join you?" Cole asked AR Cole.

He merely shrugged in return, and Cole walked around him to grab a drink as well. When he straightened, he was amused at his choice of drink. He looked at the choice of his alternate version, and saw they had chosen the same drink. AR Cole looked up at Cole and they smiled.

"I guess we aren't that different after all." Cole stated.

"I guess we aren't." AR Cole said, shifting from foot to foot a little nervously.

"Hey don't be so nervous, I am you after all, or you're me, or something like that." Cole said, waving his hand at the nervousness of his AR version of himself.

"Well sorry. It's just that I'm not used to seeing myself and being jealous." AR Cole said, looking down. He was very proud in any reality, and this one was no different.

"Are you talking about Phoebe and me?" Cole questioned AR Cole. AR Cole simply nodded his confirmation.

"Well, we're only friends, but I'm glad that I have that at least." Cole said, remembering how she used to treat him before the gate when he had returned from the wasteland.

"What do you mean?" AR Cole asked, noticing the emotions that were running across the face of another him. It seemed very odd, to see your face with emotions that you're not feeling.

"Well, in my reality, I was taken over by the Source. Phoebe and her sisters eventually vanquished me, but I came back to Phoebe because I wouldn't let go of our love. When I had come back, she was afraid of me, and she seemed to have moved on. She probably would've kept acting the same way if it weren't for the gate." Cole explained to, in sense, himself. AR Cole was in total awe of the story.

"Now, I have a question for you. How did you become a Whitelighter?" Cole asked, remembering that this Cole had the ability to orb.

"Well, as you know, the Phoebe here has become the Source. I had died previously, trying to save her from the Source. Leo then convinced the Elders to bring me back as a Whitelighter with my demonic powers intact. So I'm not really a Whitelighter, but I do have the capabilities of a Whitelighter." AR Cole explained.

"Ah, I see." Cole said, going over the facts in his mind. As he looked over what had happened, something was off from what had happened in his own reality. Suddenly something occurred to him.

"Wait, why did the Seer decide to put the Source in Phoebe?" Cole asked himself out loud. He didn't expect the AR Cole to answer.

"Well, I think she had an advisor, though we don't know who. When she had come to the manor, she had another demon with her. He was acting like a servant demon, but he seemed different, colder, and pure evil." AR Cole explained.

Cole's eyes widened in the realization. He understood what they had to do. Before he went to see Phoebe he turned back to AR Cole.
"I have a plan, but if you don't agree, I won't propose it. The demon you saw was most likely Scier. My idea would be to vanquish Phoebe. Do you think you'll be able to handle that?" Cole asked his alternate version of himself. He saw a flash of pain dance through his eyes, then the sight of commitment and sad determination took over.

"I had been brought back to do what you proposed. I may not like it, but I don't want Phoebe to continue living the hell she's in. I'd rather let her go into the afterlife and let her rest instead of hell on earth with the Source." AR Cole stated, keeping his emotions in check.

Cole nodded, seeing the determination to free his soul mate. Cole than walked to the living room, where he met a surprising, and shocking scene.