Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or any of the characters.

The future of the world rests on the shoulders of... Cole

One Last Chance

"What if Leo's secret has something to do with me? Maybe he doesn't love me anymore or something like that. I don't wanna lose him, and I know that him not loving me sounds silly but if Phoebe was able to get over the love between her and Cole, who's to say that Leo can't get over the love between him and me?" Piper asked her sister.

"You're right, Piper. That is silly. And Phoebe and Cole's situation was different, alright? Cole drove Phoebe away, and he had tried to kill all three of us more than one time," Paige comforted.

"It wasn't Cole that drove Phoebe away; it was the evil within him. It was Belthazor."

"But Belthazor was the one doing the things at the beginning, he wasn't the one involved with the nexus, alternate reality... That was Cole in the flesh," Paige reminded.

Piper spoke up again. "No. I don't believe Belthazor ever truly went away..."

"Do you think that if there was some way that Cole came back to life... again... and that he would come back good... do you think Phoebe would take him back?" Piper and Paige sat quietly. They were both in deep contemplation of the situation, until Paige finally broke the silence.

"I don't think she will," Paige concluded. She was hoping that would be the end of the conversation.

Piper looked at her. "You don't think she will, or you hope she won't?" Paige just glanced from Piper back to the plate of food the waiter had just placed in front of her.

"Thanks," Paige told him. The waiter simply nodded and walked off, and the two sisters dug into their food, and for the rest of dinner, there was nothing but silence with the exception of little Wyatt Mathew Halliwell with the occasional gurgle.

x x x

Phoebe rested her head on her pillow in the dark of her room. The note on the refrigerator was from Piper, as she recalled, which said: 'Paige and I have gone to dinner because neither you nor Leo showed. Piper.' She closed her eyes and let her mind wander about. She wasn't hungry at all. She had a late lunch and felt that if her stomach didn't growl loud enough for someone to complain, she could go without food. Then again that would be hard since no one was in the manor to gripe about it...

She thought of various things such as magic, television, movies, magazines, and friends until her mind finally came to a halt as she opened her eyes for a brief second and saw the picture of herself and Cole on her desk. 'I haven't put it away yet,' she thought to herself. She removed herself from bed and picked up the picture frame. As she walked to the other side of the room to insert the picture frame in the bottom drawer of her vanity, she had second thoughts. Without even thinking, she followed her feet to her nightstand and placed it neatly facing towards the bed so that every morning when she woke up, she'd remind herself of what she had given up...

'Why did I have to let go of something so perfect? But then again, why would something so perfect seem like it was never meant to be?' These were thoughts that constantly clouded her mind day after day until something had caused her to get so caught up that she hadn't had time to think of anything.

She wondered about Cole daily. She doesn't know how she feels; she's so lost. Phoebe constantly tells her sisters everything is okay. After all, if something wasn't okay, her sisters would notice; well, they should... 'but they don't.' Phoebe had gone through so much with Cole but no one gets what she's feeling. Piper used to try and comfort her about how Leo and Piper were torn apart by the Elders for a bit; Piper considered that enough hurt to know what Phoebe felt. But it wasn't even close to what Phoebe was feeling.

Phoebe had chosen her job over her love. She chose a life of good over a good life. She had vanquished the only man who stayed... the only man who had ever truly touched her heart. She had given up love - and not just any love, the love. The love that had been there for her for what seemed like her whole life. The love that she had hoped would stay there for her for ever and ever and ever...

Piper didn't even begin to have felt what Phoebe was feeling now. Phoebe. Lost. Confused. Alone. They were synonymous to each other. Phoebe wished it could've been different.

Piper figured that she and Leo had been through the pain Phoebe and Cole did. But it was different. Piper and Leo were eventually reunited while Phoebe and Cole... well... weren't.

'Why did I have to say no to destiny?' Phoebe kicked herself for letting down Cole, for letting down herself, for letting down love.

"I'm over him, right?" she asked herself aloud. "Right?"

It was almost as if she was waiting for someone to answer her other than herself. But no one was there to answer. No one at all. And once again, she was all alone.

x x x

"Silence." Every Elder quickly grew quiet as Abraham spoke his words. "I believe that this is indeed the right move."

None of the Elders spoke up. They knew it was the right move; after all, they all knew of the prophecy of the final battle. The journey and soldiers had been written, but the score had not been recorded.

Of course, no one truly liked prophecies - they were never all that specific - never. And no one liked to predict who the 'prophecy' was in the first place. "It's a waste of time," everyone who was asked would reply.

"Coleridge Turner, step forward." Abraham's voice was deep and loud, yet at the same time, soothing. Cole didn't know whether to fear Abraham or seek comfort in him. "Both," Abraham said, as if he read Cole's mind. Cole was taken aback by this. 'Iffy,' Cole thought to himself. But instead of coming up with something smart to say - or just anything to say in particular - he took a couple of steps forward to where he was no more than six feet directly from Abraham.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you, young man?" Abraham questioned.

"More than you have," he replied.

"Hmm..." Abraham sat without moving any muscles except the ones in his eyes. They kept moving up and down Cole, as if they were studying him, looking for faults. Then he clued him in. "I was just deciding what you would do in situations that whitelighters can and have been placed in. For example, Leo chose the duty of Elder over his family. Would you do the same?"

"I think I've proved that before," Cole rebuked.

"Fair enough," Abraham acknowledged.

Cole looked up at Abraham. Abraham was sitting and yet he seemed so big, so tall. 'Intimidating...' "You know," Cole began. "You're not exactly what I expected. You're like, the head Elder right?"

"Something like that, yes."

"I expected some thing... else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, just not... you..." Cole trailed. He knew by then he shouldn't have even gotten on the subject. He should've just gotten his wings and shutten up, but no. Before he could get his wings he had to start the stupid conversation ever...

"I think I know. Let me guess," Abraham began.

'Uh oh, oops,' Cole thought.

"Like this, you meant. Whitelighter, you want to be. Many questions, you ask. Talk like Yoda, I must..." Abraham left the sentence hanging.

There was a long pause before Cole finally spoke again. "Oh, shut up."

There was a slight stir of chuckling Elders through out the congregation. "Alright, Cole. All I need to know is this: are you prepared?"

"Prepared for what?"

"Anything and everything that can or might happen," he finished.

"Well, gee, how very vague of you."

"Would you choose your charge's life over yours?"

"Yes."

"Would you choose a better life for others over a better life for yourself?"

"Yes."

"Would you choose duty over love?"

Cole frowned. "I thought love was only frowned upon... and I thought that was love between a whitelighter and his charge."

"Well, you need at least one charge to technically be a whitelighter. For example, Paige has Sam, her father, and Leo has the Charmed Ones and his son, Wyatt."

"Well, who do you think you could assign me that I would fall for? You know I'm still hung up on-"

"Your new charge?"

"What!"

x x x

"Phoebe, we're home!" Piper yelled throughout the manor. It was too silent, so she had to make some noise. "Pheebs?"

"In my room," Phoebe said; she wasn't sure if it was loud enough to hear them. But then she saw Piper and Paige enter... 'Damn, they did hear me.'

"Hey, Phoebe, did you get enough food?" Paige asked.

"No, I wasn't really hungry... until now," she realized as her stomach growled.

"No worries! We brought home the food that Piper couldn't consume!"

"I'm trying to lose weight from the pregnancy, not gain the thirty pounds back!"

"Actually, sis, it was probably only about twenty or twenty-five because Wyatt was two months early," Paige told.

"Where is Wyatt?" Phoebe questioned her sisters.

"I put him down in his room. He was pretty tired - fell asleep at the restaurant."

"Oh," Phoebe said. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore them. Though she didn't tell them, she just wanted to be alone which was strange because only minutes before she had realized she was a little too alone...

"Phoebe, you've been working a lot lately," Paige began. "And... are you okay?" Phoebe just looked up at her younger sister. She had grown so much since she had discovered her Wicca heritage only two years ago. "What I mean to say is: Is there something you'd like to tell us; something-" She paused. "Um, question: Why is there a picture of you and Cole on the nightstand?"

"What?" Piper asked. "Oh my God, Phoebe, why is there a picture of you and Cole on your nightstand?"

Phoebe opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Paige: "I'm sure that she just had it out just to be... nice... and... she thought it would be thoughtful... if she - I got nothing!"

"It's okay, guys. I had a bad day. And today is..." Phoebe sighed before continuing. "Today is exactly one year since... since I vanquished him."

"Don't be silly! We vanquished him six or seven months ago!" Paige reminded.

"I meant from when he was the source," Phoebe concluded. "For some reason, I don't think he wanted to become the source of all evil... I think he was trying to... Oh, I don't know. It's probably stupid anyways."

"Piper, you and I need to talk," Paige said as she led her older sister out of the room.

x x x

"You do know that assigning me to Phoebe is practically suicidal," Cole flamed. "Come on, as much as I'd love to be her whitelighter, I'd never be able to be with her and I don't think I can live with that!"

"Well, that's one of the sacrifices we were talking to you about," Abraham said.

"That's just one sacrifice I'm not going to make. Don't," Cole told.

"Are you telling me what and what not to do?"

"Sounds like it to me," Leo said. Abraham glared at him and Leo signaled to him that he took it back.

"Yeah, I'm telling you what and what not to do," Cole said.

"Hmm..." Abraham thought a moment. "That's just the kind of attitude we need around here."

Whispers and murmurs spread throughout the chamber. "Uh, sir..." Cole began. "With all-do respect: what?"

"You use that word a lot, Coleridge."

"Cole... only my dad called me Coleridge."

Abraham nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes, that he did." Cole stood there.

"For your information, Mr. Abraham, sir... I hate awkward silences," Cole stated.

A couple of Elders laughed. "And," Cole continued. "Is this honestly going to take that long?"

Abraham smiled. "We'll talk about which rules apply to you after you get your wings."

Leo and Cole looked to each other. 'They're really going to do this,' Leo thought. 'Awesome. I think it's a perfect plan.'

A light shone brightly around Cole; nearly everyone had to squint...

x x x

"Piper, I think something's going on with Phoebe," Paige whispered to her sister in the hall.

"Wow, and you figured that out all by yourself..."

"Piper, c'mon. I'm serious. This is no time to get sarcastic."

"Okay, you're right; I'm sorry," Piper told. "Continue with what you think."

"I think that she's so upset over losing Jason that she's started to think about Cole."

"Really?" Piper dragged out 'really'. "I think that she's so upset over losing Cole that she had turned to Jason, and now that she's lost that, she's replaying memories and good moments of her with Cole. She's probably thinking about him all the time, feeling lonely, and is too embarrassed to approach us with it."

Paige raised an eyebrow. "Did this happen to you?"

"No comment."

x x x

Cole orbed into Phoebe's room. 'Head rush,' he thought. 'Gotta get used to that.' Phoebe didn't see him orb. He crept up behind her. "Phoebs?" he called to her.

Phoebe turned around. "You're not real," she stated. Cole raised an eyebrow. He thought she was crazy until he heard what she said next. "It's just me imagining you again." There was an awkward silence. "Why do you have to haunt my life, cloud my memories, and intrude into my dreams?"

"I'm... sorry?" Cole practically asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "If you were real, you'd probably be begging for me to take you back, hoping that you could get to hold me in your arms, and praying that in the morning when you woke up, I'd be there. And what gets me is..." she paused as tears overcame her. "I want that, too."

Cole came closer. "Phoebe, I'm real."

"Nice try," she said as she quickly looked down.

"Phoebe," he said so firm, yet so gentle, as he lifted her face so that her eyes would meet his. "I'm here... I'm your... your new whitelighter..."

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding!"