A/N: I really have nothing to do, do I? Well….I might as well write this chapter now because sheesh….I just want to. Chapter 18 people!! Chapter 18!!! And you know that I love reviews J !!!
A Given Chance- Chapter 18
CJ opened his eyes slowly. His eyes hurt from the bright light that suddenly hit his sight. He rubbed his eyes so that his vision would clear up. He found himself on the floor of the attic with Rachel and Alex slumbering beside him. He lifted his left hand to look at his watch. 7:30 AM. He looked around the room and tried to remember what had happened in the last couple hours.
'Oh yeah…..we went to the past where we fought two powerful warlocks, met our parents, I got turned into a robot, we all almost died, we erased our parent's memory, and then we got sent back into the future to live our horrible lives. Good morning to me.' He thought. He smirked at his sarcastic comment. He looked around the room again and realized that Sam wasn't in the room. "Sam?" he whispered, his voice still groggy from his short, and terrible sleep the last night. "Sam??"
He got up, and saw in the mirror behind him that he hadn't changed in the last 26 hours. His clothes were dirty and dusty. He had an icky, disgusting feeling inside of him, and his breath smelled nasty. "God…." He said, commenting his bad hygiene. He walked out of the attic and went into his own room to find some clean clothes. Once he changed, he walked downstairs to try and find his cousin.
When he got to kitchen, his search was successful. Sam was there, frying some eggs for everyone and two mugs of hot coffee were steaming on the table along with a plate full of over-easy and scrambled eggs. "You were up early?" he said, sitting down on a stool to sip one of the mugs. Sam didn't turn from the stove. "I couldn't sleep." She muttered as she finished another scrambled egg and laid it on the plate.
"I don't remember what happened when we got back……care to refresh my memory? Or is this not the time-"
"Dad landed us in the attic. We were all passed out for some reason…..but I woke up like 30 minutes later and couldn't sleep again. All three of you were knocked out." Sam said, cutting CJ off.
"Oh. Did we get to say goodbye?" he asked curiously. Sam put the final plate on the island and turned off the stove. She then put the frying pan in the sink and turned the water on to soak it. She shook her head. "Nope…..Dad left without saying goodbye….kind of sounds familiar doesn't it……" she said, sitting down on the stool next to CJ and taking the other cup of coffee.
"Did you get your powers back?" CJ asked again. Sam shot her left hand to her side and a bunch of china, hanging on hooks exploded into a bunch of pieces. CJ's eyes widened and was startled by the sudden explosion. "I guess that's a yes….." he said, still getting over the shock. Sam smirked. "Yeah….."
CJ nodded his head and bit his lip. "So…..how's life gonna be like now? Is it going to be different? Or…..is it going to be…..painful and hard now?"
"When hasn't it been?" she said, sipping her coffee. She gently laid the mug down on the island. "One thing's for sure…..Alex isn't going to talk to me for a while after I socked him….." she said. There was silence for a while, until CJ and Sam burst out laughing. The two oldest of the group laughed for a while. They didn't quite know what they were laughing about, but they were having a great time anyway.
They stopped when they were suddenly interrupted by a voice. "Laughing much?" Rachel said, as she stood in the doorway with Alex behind her. Sam and CJ smiled as the two came in and took a seat on the island as well. Sam glanced to Alex. "Hey bro. You get a good sleep?" she asked, hoping he would say something to her. To her surprise, he grinned and nodded.
"Never better…." He said, still grinning. There was a silence between all four of them until Alex spoke again. "Look…..I'm sorry I was a jerk……back there….."
"Hey…..you just missed them that's all…." Sam assured him. CJ and Rachel nodded in agreement.
"No…..I should have known better. I mean, I'm always the one who is the first to move on…..and to not care……but back there…..it just took over me."
"You were holding it in man…..come on. I could see it in your eyes that you were never the first to move on. There always had to be something left behind. You just kept it bottled up inside. And it's partially my fault…..because you're always the one who has to stay strong while your older sister has an emotional breakdown….." she said jokingly. All four of them laughed.
Rachel got up and got Alex and herself a small glass of milk. "That was our biggest adventure yet you guys…..well besides beating the second and third source of all evil and saving all whitelighters from the darklighter that had access to go into heaven, and I'd say we did pretty good. A toast?" she said cheerfully. Sam, Alex and CJ smiled and lifted up their mugs and glasses.
"To a job well done." Rachel said.
"To saving our parents, ourselves, and our future destinies." CJ said.
"To being the best crime fighters in the history of magic…..besides our parents of course." Alex smirked.
All three of them waited for Sam's addition to their toast. She stood silent for a while staring at the counter, smiling. Finally, she thought of a good addition.
"To being charmed…….for life." She said with a small smile. All four of them smiled and nodded in agreement. They lifted their glasses and crashed them into each other, making them make a sound.
"To being charmed!!"
"To being charmed??"
"To being charmed!!!"
"To being charmed."
All four of them grinned and drank their beverages. They smiled and laughed a lot, appreciating their time together. Unfortunately, they never noticed the new trunk in the attic that wasn't there before their adventure to the past.
****
In the past…….
Paige sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. She noticed that she felt really icky and disgusting inside and her breath smelt really bad. 'What the hell did I DO last night?' she asked herself rhetorically. She looked down at her attire. She was still in her regular clothes and she hadn't changed into her pajamas. 'Did I go out last night? Was I drunk? Wait….I don't drink…..what happened last night?'
She spent a few minutes trying to remember what had happened in the last couple hours but nothing was coming to her head. 'This is odd….' She thought. She wondered if her sisters knew anything about last night until she saw the clock and the time. 7:30 AM. She was alarmed.
"JESUS CHRIST!! I'm gonna be late for work!!!!" she screamed She ran to her dresser and picked out a bunch of clothes before she ran to her bathroom to quickly change. After she was all ready, but didn't fix her hair she ran outside her door. She suddenly crashed into Cole who was holding a breakfast tray and was carrying it to Phoebe's room.
"Ahhhh!!" Cole gasped as the tray flew up into the air. Paige looked up and panicked. "Um…um….TRAY!!" she yelled. The tray disappeared into bright blue lights and then reappeared in Paige's hands. Paige sighed but unfortunately Cole wasn't so lucky. He fell on the floor from their collision and was rubbing his neck. "Ow….that kind of hurt Paige." He said, looking up to her.
When he saw her messed up hair, and her wrinkly clothes and her morning face his eyes widened. "Whoa…..Frankenstein on the loose….." he muttered with a laugh. Paige glared at him and kicked him. "Did that hurt any more??" she said, giving him a squinty-eye evil look. Cole laughed playfully as he got up. He took the tray from her and glanced at her weirdly. "Paige? Where are you going?" he asked as she was running down the stairs.
"To work! I'm gonna be so freaking late! My boss is going to fire me for sure if I don't get there in time!!!" she called back up. She was about to run out the door when she heard Cole scream: "It's Saturday Paige!! No work!! The offices are closed remember??" he shouted. Paige paused, sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah." She said, feeling the irony of her situation. She slammed the door and walked back up the stairs slowly, feeling stupid and foolish.
Cole stood there still looking at her weirdly. "Where are you going now?"
"To take a long…..long…..hot….shower." she said opening the door to her room. Before she walked in she paused again. She turned around to face Cole. "Wait a minute…..what are YOU doing here? And who's that tray for??"
Cole grinned. "Guess who?"
"You're not going to try and win her back again are you???"
"Of course."
"What makes you think that she's gonna consider taking you back after all the times she turned you down?"
"Let's just say I got a lot of positive motivation in the last few hours…." He said still grinning. Paige shrugged. "Well…..best of luck!" she said, walking into her room and slamming the door. Cole smiled and stared at the tray in his hands. Some pancakes, french toast with butter and syrup, an extra cup of syrup, some milk, and a vase with one single red rose. He took a deep breath, hoping Phoebe would like it. He walked over to her door and opened it. There, he saw Phoebe lying in her bed, her hair messy and her clothes still wrinkled. He smiled as she saw his son's face in Phoebe's.
He walked over to her bed, and put the tray on a nightstand. He shook Phoebe a little and kissed her on the forehead. "Phoebe…..it's time to get up hon." He whispered in her ear. She groaned a little and opened her eyes. When she saw Cole she got startled and sat up. "What time is it? Where was I? Where am I? What day is it? Ewww….why do I feel really, really nasty? What did I DO last night?" she asked.
Cole went through his memories and remembered the whole night. "I really don't know what you did…..but….I made you breakfast." He said, getting the tray from the nightstand and holding it in front of her. "Pancakes, french toast, and milk. Plus a little romantic touch." He touched the tip of the red rose. Phoebe glanced at the breakfast and then to Cole.
"Where did this come from?"
"I just wanted to do something special that's all. How else am I to win you back?"
"Cole….we've been over this."
"And I've heard it a million times. But a bunch of words is not going to stop me from loving you. Nothing is going to stop me from getting you back. It's like I've seen the future, and I can see the both of us in it."
"But Cole…."
"Just eat. You don't have to say anything for now. It doesn't hurt to eat breakfast from a long, lost love?"
Phoebe rolled her eyes at the comment and took a fork and ate a piece of a pancake. "This is…..good." she said, her mouth still chewing the piece. Cole smiled. "You made this?" Phoebe asked, eating more. "Yup." Cole replied.
"Well….I guess I can admit that was kind of sweet." She said. "Thanks." Phoebe hesitated for a minute and then took the tray and put it to her side. She then kissed him gently on the cheek. Cole smiled and touched her chin and gazed into her eyes. "Do I have to say it again? I love you Phoebe." He said, as Phoebe gave up and both of them kissed on the lips. It was a fairly long kiss, a kiss that Phoebe missed for the longest time. They let go of each other but still stared into each other's eyes. They were going to kiss again, but they were interrupted by a loud voice and some banging.
"LEO!! GET OUT OF THE STINKING BATHROOM!!! DO YOU WANT ME TO THROW UP ALL OVER OUR BEDROOM RUG? GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!!!!!" Piper yelled, banging on the bathroom door in her room.
"Geez Piper…hold on will you? I'm just finishing up my shave here…."
"I THINK MORNING SICKNESS CAN'T HOLD ON LEO!!! I'M GOING TO BARF!!!! GOD IM NEVER HAVING ANOTHER BABY EVER EVER EVER AGAIN!!!!"
Phoebe lifted an eyebrow and rolled her eyes. Cole sighed and their "romantic" moment was ruined. He backed away from Phoebe's face. Phoebe turned away. "Hey….umm…..thanks."
"You want anything else? I could be on your hand and foot today…..serving you as much as you like?"
"Cole…."
"And then I have reservations tonight for dinner…..just the two of us. Fancy restaurant. Candle lit dinner?"
"Cole….."
"And then I thought we could go cruising and driving under the pale moonlight? Listening to oldies on the station or if pure silence is good for you, then it's good for me too?"
"Cole….."
"And then I thought we could go ballroom dancing at some place that I know-"
"COLE!!" Phoebe cut him off. Cole looked at her with a hopeful face. He looked like a sad puppy, ready to cry in case he got rejection. Phoebe took a deep breath. "Just pick me up at seven thirty tonight. I have to get ready and stuff….." she muttered. Cole grinned and nodded. He waved and walked out the door and closed it behind him. He leaned on the door and smiled. "Yes!" he cried as though he were a mere teenager.
Phoebe sighed, hoping that her decision was right and then turned back to her breakfast. 'These pancakes……are really, really good……'
To be continued……stay tuned for chapter 19 of "A Given Chance."
A/N: Next…..four short chapters on how the four actually got their reward….just in time for the Christmas holidays 7 months later……hope you liked this chapter. It's always nice to read and review?