Part Twenty-Two

Twenty Minutes Later

May 9, 2004

"I'm fine, Piper," Phoebe muttered as she gripped the edge of the desk and gritted her teeth through the remainder of the contraction.

"You're sure as hell not fine!" Piper exclaimed with a worried glance to Paige. "How long've you been having contractions and why didn't you tell us?"

"We need to get you to the doctor," Paige agreed as she stood behind Phoebe and place a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Not until I see justice done," Phoebe declared after she took a deep cleansing breath. She turned her head to glare at Paige and, as soon as Paige's hand fell from her shoulder, she stood up straight and informed her sisters, "I'm doing you the favor of letting him dispute this but I'm telling you right now whatever he'll say will be a lie." She dangled the crystal before them and stated, "This is the truth."

Piper shook her head, "Please, Phoebe, it's late and you're upset and this isn't good for you or the baby."

"What's going on?" Gideon asked as he entered the room with Leo. He finished buttoning his black robe and watched Phoebe in concern, "Are you all right? Should I call for one of the staff doctors?"

"Explain this," she demanded as she shoved the crystal in front of his face.

Confused, he stared at it a moment and commented, "I don't sense anything magical about it. Is it important?"

"Yes," she snarled, trying not to picture Cole wearing it. "I want you to watch." She then commanded the crystal to replay the scene she'd seen alone in her bedroom.

Phoebe had already told them what she'd seen so Paige concentrated more on Gideon's reactions than in watching the crystal's revelation. If Phoebe was right, this would prove her own suspicions about Gideon had been right. If the crystal was a fake, then she'd been right in beginning to doubt Cole. And Gideon was impressive. He wasn't showing any emotion as the crystal blurred. 'Wouldn't wanna go up against him in a poker game,' she thought.

Piper kept an eye on her younger sister while the scene played. It wasn't easy because she was definitely curious to see what had Phoebe so convinced of Gideon's guilt. A part of her mind had been nagging her all evening reminding her what Cole had said in the kitchen, that he would sacrifice himself if necessary. But how could Gideon have lied to them. She glanced at the crystal again and gasped when she saw Wyatt in danger and it took a tremendous amount of willpower not run back home and grab Wyatt from his crib and never let him go.

Leo recognized the expression on Piper's face and quickly stood behind her. "Wyatt's fine and Chris is with him."

Piper nodded mutely and focused on both her sister and the crystal. The anger she saw reflected in Phoebe's face worried her, especially when she caught the image of Cole disappearing in a flash of light.

Phoebe held it together until she saw the clothing fall to the ground. She let out a tiny sob and swayed. Gideon had immediately moved to support her and that was all Phoebe needed to pull herself back. "Don't you dare touch me!" she shouted as she shoved him away. "You're the one after Wyatt and you killed Cole!"

Paige was now more confused than before. She was the one who'd suspected Gideon but Gideon explained it all so logically. Could she have made a mistake in believing his story? Had she done a disservice to Cole by doubting him?

Leo stepped forward and lightly gripped Phoebe by her shoulders. He guided her to the chair and knelt before her when she sat. "Are you okay?" he asked when he saw her rubbing the side of her belly. He reached out and tenderly stroked it too.

Phoebe stared at the crystal in her hand and whispered, "It's the third time I've seen it and I still can't believe it's real."

"Is it possible," he cautiously began, "that this is your creation?" She looked back at him in a mixture of shock and anger and he quickly calmed her by explaining, "With all the magic you were using to find Cole, is it possible there was a backfire and this crystal is showing us what you wanted us to see?"

Phoebe pushed away his hand, stared him in the eyes, and, in a clear voice, informed him, "I gave this to Cole on our wedding night and he's never taken it off and I didn't find it until I went through his clothing. The only way this crystal was enchanted was if Cole did it."

"Can you explain this?" Piper quietly asked Gideon. She didn't want to believe Cole had turned evil but she couldn't believe an Elder who'd protected them would have betrayed them. And yet, she couldn't deny what she'd seen in the crystal.

Gideon paced dramatically to the other side of his desk and turned back to them. "You won't be happy with what I have to say," he informed them.

"Tell us anyway," Piper said. "We," she paused as she glanced at her sister who refused to look at Gideon, "need to know the truth."

"Very well," he sighed. "I have no doubt that Cole put a spell on this crystal but what we've seen has been a total fabrication." He acknowledged Phoebe's outburst of indignation by holding up his hands in mock-surrender. "Please, calm yourself, Phoebe. This has been a stressful day for you, to say the least, and this will be hard for you to hear."

Piper hurried to Phoebe's side and suggested, "Maybe we should do this tomorrow after you've had a good night's sleep."

"Now," Phoebe insisted in a hoarse voice. "I want to hear his lies now so that I can make him pay and then start mourning my innocent husband."

"Phoebe..." Paige murmured sympathetically.

Gideon took Phoebe's comments in stride and began, "As I told you earlier this evening, I had become concerned when I had gone to check on Wyatt and found the sitter had let him leave with Cole. Normally, in Piper's absence, Cole would have stopped by to personally let me know he was taking Wyatt away. So, I used magic to track Cole and, to my great surprise, discovered that he'd gone to the Underworld. As you know, the scenery in the Underworld is rather uniform so it was a while before I'd actually found him."

"And that's when you found him attacking Wyatt?" Piper questioned.

He nodded somberly, "I came upon them and immediately understood what Cole was doing to Wyatt. I had angered Cole but was willing to leave him be for both Wyatt's and Phoebe's sakes. Before I could, though, Wyatt had orbed away." He smiled warmly to Piper, "Evidently, he was not harmed by the attempt on his life. Truly intelligent child, he recognized the danger and orbed to his mother." He turned back to the others and added, "I confronted Cole and he finally dropped all pretenses."

"He admitted to you he was after Wyatt?" Leo warily asked after a quick glance to Phoebe.

Gideon followed Leo's concerned gaze and apologized, "I'm sorry, Phoebe. I know you love him but the truth is that his experiences as Source and in the Wasteland had changed him more completely than you knew. The powers he had procured for himself had more pull than you could possibly imagine. And when he'd discovered the prophecy concerning Wyatt...I'm afraid he was just biding his time until he found a safe way to harness them for himself."

"How dare you!" she exclaimed in a low voice as she struggled to stand. "Cole changed from the Wasteland, yes. But so did I," her knees trembled as she spoke but she continued, "and neither one of us is evil. Cole loves me and he loves my family and I will not let you stand here and tarnish a reputation he's worked so hard to build. You saw, you all saw, what the crystal revealed. That's the truth."

"I saw the truth Cole wanted the crystal to reveal," he corrected. "Very clever of him, actually. If he had been successful with his attempt on Wyatt and stopping me, he would have had proof that I was the guilty one and killer of young Wyatt. If I had been successful at stopping him, as I was, he still had proof to convince you of his innocence and my guilt."

"You're lying," Phoebe accused him. She spun to her sisters and Leo, "You're not buying any of this are you? But Piper could barely look her in the eye and no one replied. "I don't believe you," she whispered in shock. She stared at Piper, "Are you telling me after all this, after all I've shown you, you would feel comfortable leaving Wyatt in his care?"

Tears filled Piper's eyes, "Please understand, Phoebe, I don't blame Cole. He'd been possessed by the Source and then vanquished and I can't imagine what that did to him. But you came back with powers, demonic powers, and I've always been afraid that something like this might happen again."

"It didn't to me," Phoebe coolly declared.

"Because you aren't a demon," Paige finally said in a quiet voice. "You may be susceptible to evil but it's not a part of who you are. Cole will always be a demon."

Phoebe was at a loss for words. Piper reached for her but she quickly stepped aside. "Don't," she warned. "I'm going home," she added as she turned from them and walked to the door, "and I don't mean the manor."

"Phoebe, wait!" Piper called after her. Leo lightly grabbed her arm to stop her from following, "Let her go."

Piper turned to Gideon and apologized, "I'm worried about her. She had a contraction before and I'm afraid..."

Gideon nodded, "I understand. This is a lot for her to accept. Perhaps in time. In the care of her sisters..."

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Phoebe heaved the suitcase on the bed but quickly hunched over when the room spun. She rubbed her belly and apologized, "Forgot for a minute I shouldn't be exerting myself like that. Don't you worry, kiddo, I'm not gonna let anything happen to me, to us. We're in this together." Without waiting for the dizziness to end, she began tossing loose clothing into the suitcase when she was suddenly interrupted by Chris orbing into the room.

"I heard the door slam," he announced as he scanned the room. "What's going on? What happened with Gideon?"

"That lying, two-faced, son of a bitch convinced everyone that Cole was trying to take Wyatt's powers!" She still hadn't found her balance and would probably have collapsed if Chris hadn't caught her. "Thanks," she muttered as he guided her to sit on the bed. "Even with the crystal, they believed him." She glanced at him and pushed away his arm, "You'd probably believe him too, I suppose."

But Chris shook his head and stated, "No, I wouldn't." She gazed back at him in surprise and he admitted, "I think Gideon's guilty as sin."

Exasperated, she asked, "But why didn't you say something? Why'd you let me go on thinking that --"

"I didn't know what else to do," he interrupted. "I thought it'd be better if Gideon thought we weren't a part of it. That way I could find proof about him without worrying about him catching on."

"We who? And a part of what?" she asked, full of suspicion. "Y'know, I figured that Cole realized the truth and used himself to flush out Gideon. Are you telling me you and Cole were working together?"

"And Paige," he confessed, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Paige!" she shrieked as she leapt up and nearly crashed into him. He steadied her but she shook her head, "Why would she still pretend to doubt Cole after watching the crystal? That's all the proof you need but she stood there and made excuses."

"I don't know," he said. "I don't claim to understand half the things that run through your minds at times. But I do know that if he left you this crystal, Cole knew something terrible might happen and he'd wanted you to have proof about Gideon."

"So you don't," she tearfully acknowledged, "you don't know where Cole is then either. He's gone, isn't he?"

"I'm sorry," Chris offered as he cautiously embraced her. "If only there was someone else who saw it." Phoebe began to cry quietly and he rubbed her back. "If I'd've had the slightest clue what'd happened to him, I'd've tried changing it, I promise." He felt Phoebe's nod and he added, "I really enjoyed hanging out with him, y'know. I didn't have that chance growing up and I wonder how my life'd be different if I had. But I'm glad I had the time with him now." Phoebe suddenly tensed in his arms and he began to apologize for possibly hurting her by talking about Cole when he realized she was in pain. "What's wrong?" But Phoebe didn't answer as she clutched her abdomen and began breathing differently. "Oh, God," he nearly panicked, "that's a contraction isn't it. I've gotta get you to the doctor."

"No!" she groaned as he helped her sit on the bed.

"You're in labor!" he exclaimed.

She couldn't deny the truth anymore but grunted through the pain, "No hospital, not 'til I prove Gideon did it."

"You tried," he reminded her, "and Gideon turned it all around."

The contraction subsided and Phoebe rested her head against Chris while she recovered from it. Her water hadn't yet broken which was a good sign so hopefully her plan would work and Leo would then be able to stop the labor. She slowly pushed herself back and requested, "I think I know how to prove Cole's innocence but I need your help."

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