Part Twelve
Two Years Later…
May 2, 2004
"I'm fine, Piper!" Phoebe shouted in warning from her spot on the sofa when she noticed her sister awkwardly coming down the stairs carrying Wyatt. "Now go back to Magic School where you and Wyatt are safe!" she ordered.
"In your dreams," Piper retorted as she set Wyatt down on the floor and hurried the rest of the way to her sister. She frowned at the sight of her sister's weak appearance. "My extremely pregnant sister was just released from a week's stay in the hospital and told to stay off her feet for the next four weeks. There's no way I'm leaving her alone."
"I'm not alone," Phoebe contradicted while rolling her eyes. She shifted to her side and added, "Between Paige and Cole watching me like hawks, I haven't been allowed to do anything but lie here all day and eat, watch TV, or read. And they drafted Chris into being my watchdog to report back to them if I so much as set a toe on the floor. They won't even let me walk to the bathroom myself. I've gotta use a magical bell and ring for one them." She made a silly face to her nephew who happily toddled to her but, before she could reach for him to lift him up, Piper had already scooped Wyatt in the air away from her. "C'mon, Piper, I haven't seen him in so long. I bet I've missed so much."
"Not as much as you would be missing if Leo hadn't stopped me," Piper snapped as she set Wyatt down in the corner with his blanket and toy truck. Phoebe gave her a questioning look and she sighed as she carefully perched herself on the edge of the sofa by Phoebe's feet. "I nearly vanquished Cole," she confessed.
"What?" Phoebe shrieked as she struggled to sit up. "When?"
Piper hesitated, "He, uh, didn't tell you?"
"He's not a rat." Phoebe glared at her older sister as she finally managed to prop herself up on her elbow, "Now what do you mean you nearly vanquished him?"
Piper gently pushed her sister back down and tried to keep her temper. "He practically locked me in my room to keep me from coming home to you! Do you have any idea what it was like waiting for word on your condition? And then not be allowed to come see you?"
Wyatt uttered a few words in baby talk to her and Phoebe made another face for him. She smiled at his response before she excused Cole's behavior, "He was worried about a possible attack. You know that word's out in the Underworld that you're apart from us and he was afraid of what might happen if word got out that I was vulnerable too. He was more than worried, actually. He still doesn't completely trust the Elders and couldn't count on Leo healing me."
"Of course Leo would've healed you," Piper replied defensively. "You're his family."
Phoebe acknowledged her sister's claim with a sad smile and said, "But being an Elder has meant that he's had to make some sacrifices and Cole didn't want to risk that I'd be one of them. Believe me, he wasn't crazy about the alternative of going to the hospital. He'd've much rather had magic stop the labor."
"At least you had some of the best doctors watching over you," Piper acceded. "Paige said they had the contractions completely stopped within three days." She straightened Phoebe's top a bit and patted her sister's tummy, "At least you're both okay now but I think my niece is in too much of a hurry to join this crazy family."
"She's a Halliwell," Phoebe shrugged before she lightly slapped away Piper's hand. "And just so you know," she teased, "the only one in this family allowed to vanquish Cole is me."
Not amused, Piper grew annoyed at him all over again. "Cole had no right to keep me away. Paige was there by your side. I should've been there too."
Phoebe shook her head and smiled, "You were exactly where I wanted you to be. Where you needed to be." She pointed to Wyatt and said, "Taking care of my nephew over there." And then she pointed to Piper's own swollen belly and grinned, "And my nephew-to-be in there." She patted Piper and teased the unborn baby in a loud voice, "And you're certainly a lot bigger than last time, Chris."
"Not funny," Piper complained. "I think I'd better whip up some chocolate chip muffins for you because I'm sure I weigh more than you and I'm two-and-a-half months behind you."
"No you don't," Phoebe grinned as she waved away her sister's comment. "You're glowing and beautiful while I am the beached whale."
"Fishing for compliments?" Piper joked even though she couldn't quite smile. Phoebe wasn't glowing at the moment. She was much too pale with dark circles under her eyes, looked as though she'd actually lost weight, and seemed utterly exhausted in spite of her bouncy tone. Piper shifted her gaze to Wyatt but when she caught, from the corner of her eye, Phoebe trying to sit up in order to rise, she pushed her sister down again and scolded, "Damn it, Phoebe, lie down! This isn't a joke. Last week's Tribunal and its ruling sent you into premature labor and they still took your powers!"
"They had every right," Phoebe quietly commented as she propped herself on her elbow and protectively caressed her belly. "Funny how I didn't quite learn my lesson," she murmured before she focused again on her sister. "I was careless with my powers and I wasn't thinking of the consequences. And I took for granted the fact that I'd been in control of them that I forgot how easily I could be swayed. Maybe Barbas didn't go quite as free this time with Cole as opposing counsel but he still made a valid point about me, about us."
"I don't want to get into this with you now," Piper said. "We, you, were screwed by Barbas and that damn Tribunal and you're the only one who seems to think it's okay."
"I never said I thought it was okay," Phoebe argued, "just that I understood and have accepted the ruling." The baby began kicking and Phoebe lay back down on her side and lightly rubbed the spot. "You think I'm not scared for my baby? That I'm not scared for you and Wyatt? Or for Chris? Despite my interference, somehow enough of what I lived came true and he still had to come back to change history."
"You didn't live it," Piper quietly reminded Phoebe, frustrated that she upset her sister. "It's been two years, Pheebs, you've gotta let it go."
"I can't," Phoebe stated in defeat. "Chris's less than three months away from his birthday and we don't know what'll happen to him if he's still here for his own birth. And I'm just two weeks away from that exact moment when I woke up to find I hadn't lived any of it and I won't have any more knowledge to use. Time's running out, Piper…"
"I know," Piper indulged her sister, "I know we're still in danger and I know Chris is still angry with me and Leo but --"
"He's not angry," Phoebe interrupted. "He's hurting. He still thinks you consider him a mistake. He never had a chance in his own time to talk to you, to really talk to you, so it's hard for him to suddenly talk to you now, especially when you know the truth about who he is."
"He's not even giving us the chance," Piper complained. "How can I begin to make him see that he was born out of love if he can barely stay in the same room with me."
Phoebe patted her sister's arm, "He's scared, Piper, of being let down. And he's scared of letting you down. He grew up in the shadow of an older brother who was favored by the fates but betrayed every gift of love and power for evil. Chris needs to feel wanted and useful and he needs to save his brother."
"I see," Piper barely whispered as she glanced at her beautiful toddler who suddenly looked at her and grinned oblivious of his fate. "And Chris told you all this?"
The baby's kicking was growing more intense but Phoebe tried not to let it worry her. She took a deep breath to calm herself and tried to think of something to put Piper at ease. Given their current conditions, neither one needed the added stress. Fate hadn't seemed to change plans for her sister. The separation from Leo had been just as hard for Piper in reality and that one desperate night in an alternate plane, resulting in Chris's conception, was almost more than Piper could bear. Phoebe reached for her sister's arm and lightly rubbed it before she brought it back to her own belly where she tried to apply some pressure to discourage the baby's kicks. Piper reacted with concern but Phoebe shook her head, "She's just bored….Sort of like her mother." Piper gave a slight smile that faded quickly and Phoebe sighed, "Cole told me about Chris."
Piper immediately stood up, "Of course he did. Why shouldn't your husband get along better with my own son than me? Chris seems to like everyone better than me. Paige, Dad, Wyatt, and now it seems, even the demon."
"It isn't like that," Phoebe disagreed, letting the jab at Cole slide, and tugged on her sister's hand to have her sit again. "Remember, Chris grew up without any male influences in his life other than Dad and Dad was only around for..."
Piper felt guilty when Phoebe began to cry. She awkwardly pulled Phoebe into her arms and rubbed her sister's back.
But Phoebe wasn't comforted and cried, "I'm going to lose Cole and I don't even know how because Chris had no idea what happened to him…"
"You won't lose Cole," Piper assured her in a soft voice. "We can't get rid of him no matter how hard we try."
"Stop saying that," Phoebe demanded before she burst into a fresh batch of tears.
Piper rocked her sister gently and apologized, "You know I'm only teasing, sweetie. It's taken two years but I do see how Cole's changed and so does Paige. And we both see how you've changed too."
Phoebe immediately pulled back and sniffled, "You mean…"
Piper brushed Phoebe's hair behind her ears and declared, "I mean I'm okay with him being in this family. Really. We both are, although Paige'll probably never admit it except under a truth spell."
Phoebe couldn't help but chuckle and reached for Wyatt who had joined them at the sofa. She glanced back at Piper and worried, "What're we gonna do? We're no closer to discovering who's behind the plot to get Wyatt than we were in my premonition."
"See what all your worrying for two years got you?" Piper teased as she lifted Wyatt onto her shrinking lap.
"I didn't want to make the wrong choices," Phoebe quietly said as she lay back and watched her older sister try to keep Wyatt from sliding off. "I was so afraid of changing too much or too little." Her eyes again welled with tears as she looked from Wyatt to her sister. "I know I'm only Wyatt's aunt but it's so damn frustrating that I haven't been able to change that one aspect of that future. Wyatt's still in danger and not even Cole's presence has been able to change that. And we're running out of time."
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