Part Three
Later that Evening…
May 16, 2004
Phoebe raced down the steps in the dark and, when she stumbled to the floor from the last step, she sat on her knees, hunched forward with her head bent, and she began breathing heavily as another panic attack began. "What the hell am I doing here?" she wheezed. "I shouldn't be here." But she couldn't move. Deep down, she knew exactly why she'd come. After the assault while closing up P3, she'd needed to feel safe. And she'd always felt safe in the mausoleum. With her head now practically touching the floor, she pressed her palms to the floor, squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to block the images of the attack from her mind. The large dog-like creature had come from nowhere and nearly hit her twice with its fire-breathing powers. She'd had no idea what it was but it had moved so quickly she'd barely had time to dodge it much less call for Chris, or even Leo. She'd finally managed to vanquish it but the attack had unnerved her.
"Are you watching?" she screamed to the ceiling. "Are you happy? I did it on my own! Without any damned powers!"
The only problem was, Phoebe didn't feel vindicated. Not only had she been scared, she'd been embarrassed. If she'd been able to sense its evil intent, it might not have been able to sneak up on her and her clothes might not currently smell from smoke. And if she'd been able to surprise the demon with levitation, she might've avoided being thrown against her car and re-bruising her shoulder. It was nothing but pure luck that her spell, created off the top of her head, had worked.
She choked back a sob while she recalled the moment the creature had blown up and she'd slid to the ground in shock. Afraid to call anyone, to face anyone and hear them get angry all over again about the verdict, she'd sat in the lot, leaning back against her car, for twenty minutes before she felt her legs could support her weight. And then she ran. And, without meaning to, she'd driven straight to the mausoleum.
Her chest still burned from all her expended energy from the entire night but she still found the strength to scream, "It isn't fair!" Phoebe hunched forward again, pounded the floor with her fists, ignoring the pain, and screamed again, "It isn't fair!"
And suddenly, all the frustrations over the loss of her powers from the past three weeks exploded from within her as hot tears streamed from her eyes. She rolled back to a seated position, stared at the ceiling, and screamed again, "I hate this!" And as she sat in her spot, at the foot of the steps, hugging her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth, she sobbed. And the only phrase running as a mantra through her mind was, 'It's not fair!'
Every time she'd calmed herself enough to take a deep breath, she lost control, squeezed her eyes shut, and cried anew.
Suddenly, she felt two arms shaking her by her shoulders and, without opening her eyes, she hoarsely shouted, "I'm fine, Leo, leave me alone!" She vaguely heard the concerned tone in her name being called but she didn't want to face the Elder. She didn't want to hear the encouraging lecture he'd surely give her. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she leaned into him with her eyes closed. She'd wanted to be good about the verdict. She'd tried so hard and she'd meant every word she'd told them. But she couldn't hide anymore. Her sisters, Chris, Leo, they'd all been right. She wanted to be angry. She needed her powers back. "It's not fair!" she screamed again as tears burned her eyelids. She began to struggle again in his arms and, blindly pounding his chest, she screamed, "Give them back!"
"Open your eyes, Phoebe."
Angrily, Phoebe broke free from his grip and she screamed, "I want th--" The words died on her lips the instant she saw that it wasn't Leo who'd been holding onto her. "Cole…" she uttered in a hushed voice. Her eyes registered the concern and love she saw reflected back at her but she still backed away from him.
When her back hit some pillows, Phoebe shrieked and she glanced wildly about the room. Instead of the mausoleum, she was in bed…in the penthouse. "What the hell's going on?" she fearfully whispered.
"Honey, you can't still be mad at me for working late," Cole reached for her again but stopped when she shrank back even further into the pillows. "I thought we settled this before when I explained that," he commented a bit too defensively, "if I'm to lead the Underworld, I have to work mo--"
"Lead…" she gasped before she scrambled to the other side of the bed and slid off. She began backing away towards the door, her hands held out in front of her warning him away.
"Master?" a young, human-appearing, leather-clad demon questioned when he suddenly appeared in the room behind Phoebe. He ignored the fact that she'd jumped to the side, out of his reach. "May I be of assistance?"
"Are you implying I can't manage the Queen?" Cole snapped.
The demon respectfully bowed his head, "Forgive me."
"Leave," Cole ordered. "And do not return until you have completed your mission and killed that witch in Kansas." As soon as the demon obeyed, Cole focused on Phoebe and apologized. But she was trembling so badly and he calmly suggested, "Maybe the Seer can provide something to settle your nerves that won't harm the baby."
Phoebe instinctively pressed her hand to her abdomen and whispered, "Baby…" She stared at him and took another step back to the door. "This isn't funny, stop it," she tearfully implored. "I won't go through this again."
"What are you talking about?" he questioned in concern. "Baby, come here," he reached out to her. "You had a bad dream, that's all."
"No," she warned, "stay away from me. I don't know how the hell you came back but I want you to stay away." And she instinctively flamed out of the room and into the manor. Pushing aside her fear at what she'd just accomplished, she raced up the stairs and shouted, "Piper! Paige! I need you!"
Cole appeared in the hallway right behind her just as bedroom doors flew open. "Phoebe, you made your choice. Don't make it any harder on yourself. Let's go home now."
She spun back to him. "Don't come any closer. If you think you can remake this world again, you're still out of your mind. It can't work, Cole. Don't you see that? We weren't meant to be."
"You don't believe that," Cole frowned. "You had a nightmare and now you're having a mood swing so I'll let those comments pass. But don't test me, Phoebe. We've made our choices. Now we live with the consequences."
"What's going on?" Piper shouted when she found the Source and his Queen in the middle of the hallway. "Get the hell out of here! Both of you."
Paige ran to Piper's side and quietly said, "Look at her, Piper. Maybe she's changed her mind."
"She's done no such thing," Cole informed them as he advanced towards his wife. "Phoebe…"
But Phoebe began to tremble. "Piper," she whispered as she stared at Piper's non-pregnant figure, "what happened to Chris?" She looked up and called out, "Chris! Come here!"
Piper exchanged a confused glance with Paige and, mindful of the potential danger, asked, "Who's Chris?"
"Your hair, Paige," Phoebe whispered, "it's so dark…and long…" She spun back to Cole, "What'd you do to them?" She flew into Wyatt's room but was stunned to see the room as it had been before Piper had converted it. "Wyatt," she uttered when she returned to face them all in the hallway. She glared at him and demanded, "Where's Wyatt?"
"How the hell should I know where the Whitelighter is?" he retorted. He grabbed her arm. "Let's go, Phoebe."
But she yanked her arm free, "Don't touch me!" Everyone stared back at her in shock and tears streamed down her cheeks. "Please," she begged him, "change it back. They're babies. Don't make them pay because you're angry with me."
Cole's anger with her behavior immediately dissolved into concern. "I'm not angry with you, Phoebe," he assured her. But she didn't seem to believe him and a part of him was actually beginning to worry. The Seer had said their son would be the most powerful child the magical world had ever seen but she hadn't warned him how Phoebe might be affected by the pregnancy. Carrying a more powerful child might mean suffering from stronger reactions than those of a regular pregnancy. What if Phoebe wasn't strong enough? He'd have to be extra attentive to her. He knew how hard it was for her to be without her sisters' support, in spite of what she'd told him. But he needed her and if that meant a bit more pampering, then so be it. "You had a bad dream, baby, that's all," he quietly told her. "Come on, let's go home. It'll all be better in the morning. I promise."
But she shook her head and suddenly brought her hand to her mouth. "I'm gonna be sick." She ran past everyone, straight into the bathroom, and let the door slam behind her.
Cole started after her but Piper grabbed him. "Don't you dare!" Her heart pounded with the realization that maybe Paige was right. Maybe Phoebe had changed her mind and wanted to come home.
"She's my wife," Cole growled. "And if you don't remove your hand, she'll shortly be mourning the loss of her sister."
Paige intervened by pulling Piper back. "Phoebe looks terrible," she complained to Cole.
"She's pregnant, it's the middle of the night," he snapped, "and she had a nightmare."
"Not surprising," Piper reasoned as she glared at Cole, "considering how you've turned her into something completely alien from what she is. She's a witch. She's meant to be good."
"Let her go," Paige agreed. "You wanna be the Source? Go ahead. But do it without her. Somewhere deep inside, you know we're right. You know Phoebe doesn't belong with you."
He refused to let their words sink in and was about to reiterate to the sisters that Phoebe had made her choice when the bathroom door suddenly opened. Paige was right about one thing, Phoebe looked terrible. "Are you okay?"
"Is this real?" Phoebe whispered as she held out the small calendar she and her sisters kept in the bathroom to track their periods. "It says today's May first…Two-thousand-two."
"May second, actually, it's after midnight," Paige automatically corrected before Piper's elbow jabbed her in the ribs.
"Phoebe?" Cole uttered with complete concern when all color seemed to drain from her face. He rushed toward her.
Phoebe's hand shook so badly that the calendar slipped from her fingers. "Please," she begged him, "is that true?"
"Yes," he replied in confusion. "Baby, what's wro--" He abruptly stopped speaking when Phoebe collapsed in a faint and he moved to catch her before she hit the floor.
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