Chapter Eleven

Piper let the door carefully close behind her as she followed Paige into the hospital corridor. "Why don't we take shifts?"

"I'll stay for now," Paige agreed, "so you can go home while the boys're still up."

But Piper sighed at thought of her two energetic sons who would want to know all about the demon that had attacked. Not to mention their questions about Cole. He'd barely spent any time with them but had somehow managed to make an impression on both, particularly Wyatt. "Leo can handle dinner and all their questions," she decided. "Maybe we should both stay for now, at least until Phoebe falls asleep."

"She's already drowsy from the medication," Paige disagreed. "Go, spend time with your sons."

"Phoebe needs me," Piper sniffled.

"I know," Paige soothed as she hugged her older sister and stroked Piper's hair, "and you will be. We both will. Look," she pulled back, "you heard the doctor, Phoebe's strong and so's the baby. They'll both be okay."

"But she could still deliver," Piper worried. "It's too soon and, if the baby survives, there can be so many complications."

"But the baby still might be fine. You have to think positive, Piper," Paige commanded. "If not for yourself then for Phoebe. She may be in good shape physically but you know she's terrified she's gonna lose this baby." Piper nodded so she continued, "So we're gonna take out our pom-poms and be the best darn cheerleaders our sister's ever had."

Piper hugged Paige, "I've got a pretty great cheerleader too...Thanks, sweetie."

"Now, you're going home and I'm gonna -- Isn't that Elise?"

Piper turned and saw Phoebe's boss coming towards them. "How'd you find out about Phoebe?"

"I was visiting my sales manager who had her baby yesterday," she answered, "when I heard the nurses talking about Phoebe being admitted. They said she was in pre-term labor?" When Piper nodded, she commented, "But I spoke to Phoebe this morning and she said she was feeling better and the doctor wasn't too concerned."

Piper nodded, "But she had another episode a couple of hours ago."

"She was in the middle of slicing an apple when a sharp kick caused her to jerk the knife," Paige explained. "She cut her wrist and, when she got up to get some bandages, she got dizzy and hit her head on the table as she fell."

Piper mirrored Elise's concern and continued with their cover story, "We found her and thought she was okay but a little while later she was double over in pain and, this time, there was some spotting and the cramping turned into contractions."

"They'll be able to stop it, though," Elise hoped.

"Her water hasn't broken," Piper considered, "so that's a good sign. And the contractions aren't as close together so the medication seems to be working already."

"Good," Elise sighed in relief. "I'll add a note to tomorrow's column. I've got enough to last through the next two weeks but we may have to recycle some old ones depending on her condition."

"She'll probably be on modified bed-rest when she's released," Paige warned, "so she might not be back at work until after the baby's born."

Elise waved away her comment, "Certainly her mail can be messengered to the house and she can send in her columns via e-mail and fax. It's simply a matter of the staff meetings and publicity. I'll stop by tomorrow and we'll work out the details." She turned to leave, "I'll -- I'll be damned."

The sisters' gazes followed Elise's and Paige gasped, "Oh my God... Cole..."

Cole quickly strode toward them, "How's Phoebe?"

Piper shook her head in disbelief and it was Elise who uttered, "I thought you were dead."

Cole smiled, "Given what I put Phoebe through, I'm not surprised that's what she told people."

"How'd you get here?" Piper finally gasped.

Cole shrugged, "The usual way, I suppose. I would've been back at the house earlier but, like an idiot, I lost track of time." He sobered quickly, "Leo told me you'd taken Phoebe to the hospital and I just spoke with her doctor. Said they had some trouble calming her."

"She was so scared she'd lose the baby," Piper said with a quick glance to Elise, "after everything today, you know..."

"Interesting you're so concerned," Elise casually mentioned, "considering Phoebe hasn't said one word about you in six years."

"Of course I'm concerned," he snapped, "I love her, I love them."

Something clicked into place and Elise's mouth dropped, "You're the father, aren't you?"

Paige rolled her eyes and muttered, "Great going, Cole, now it'll be headlining the gossip column in tomorrow's paper."

"To think Phoebe managed to keep it a secret," Elise grinned. "It's going to throw off the whole office pool."

"People were betting on who the father is?" Piper questioned in outrage.

Elise shrugged, "Your usual office pool for an expectant parent only, in Phoebe's case, there was the additional criteria concerning the father's identity. I think the option of her being an artificially inseminated lesbian has the best odds right now."

"What?" Paige practically shouted.

"Well, I can assure you," Cole chuckled as he placed an arm around Elise's shoulder and turned her around, "that this baby was conceived the old fashioned way. Why don't we discuss it at the wedding? I'm sure Phoebe won't have a problem giving the Bay Mirror the exclusive."

Stunned, Piper managed to find her voice and warily questioned, "What wedding?"

Cole glanced back at the sisters, "Mine...and Phoebe's, of course." While a shocked Elise tried to formulate questions of her own, he quickly steered her towards the elevator bank and offered, "I'll ring you tomorrow with all the details."

"I'm holding you to that, Mr. Turner," Elise called out as she left the group. "Tell Phoebe I'll be by tomorrow."

Paige quickly grabbed Cole's arm and twisted him towards them, "All right, what the hell's going on?"

"Not now," he told them, "I have to see Phoebe." And without wasting another moment, he pushed open the door and entered Phoebe's room.

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Phoebe lay on her side, watching the fetal monitor, and said another little prayer for her baby. She was so tired...the medication, probably, and she tried closing her eyes again but couldn't let herself give in to the weariness. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Cole and every time she saw him she realized he was gone...again. "Cole..." she sniffled.

Cole had just opened the door and rushed to her bedside, "I'm here." Her back was to him and he noticed her body stiffen and, for a moment, he hesitated to touch her. But when she tried to turn over, he quickly helped.

Phoebe saw him and her hand flew to her mouth, "I don't understand. You can't be here." In a panic, she cradled her belly, "You can't be here..."

"Shhh," he calmed her as he tenderly caressed her belly, "it's okay. History wasn't changed, I swear." But Phoebe shook her head rapidly back and forth and he impulsively kissed her. "The baby's gonna be okay, Phoebe."

"But you're here...it's too dangerous. What if she..." she whispered.

He glanced at the monitor, "Now isn't the time to explain. You rest. I'll be here the whole time."

She shook her head, "I need to know. I..." She groaned with the onset of a contraction.

He reached for one of her hands, keeping his other flat on her belly, and instructed her on how to breathe through it.

Keeping a confused eye on him, Phoebe listened and, when the contraction ended, asked for an explanation.

He smiled and brushed some hair from her eyes, "I must've spent the past six years preparing for this moment. Well, not this moment because I don't want to welcome our daughter into the world until she's more well-done, like three more months well-done."

"It's too early..." Phoebe worried as she struggled to sit up.

He kissed her forehead and gently pushed her back into the pillows, "She has to learn patience...Much like her mother."

She rubbed her side and sighed, "What'd you mean you prepared?"

Cole sat down on the edge of the bed, holding her hand, "I must've bought every book I could find on childbirth and parenting. Hell, between that and watching every single TV show on it, I could probably don a pair of scrubs and deliver her myself."

She stared at him in amazement. Cole Turner, ex-Belthazor, ex-Source, reading and watching about childbirth? She shook her head and closed her eyes. The poor man nearly passed out merely hearing the baby's heartbeat. She was definitely dreaming. But, the way she could've sworn his fingers were lightly moving across her hospital gown, made it a wonderfully realistic dream. "Blue," she smiled, her eyes still closed. "Blue scrubs to match your eyes." She now imagined she heard him chuckle and she considered, "Maybe red scrubs. I always did love you in that red sweater....Hmmm, Doctor Turner..."

"I thought you loved me in black," he teased with a light kiss to her forehead.

"Don't think scrubs come in black," she yawned.

"Sleep, Phoebe, I'll be right here," he quietly encouraged as he continued to stroke her belly.

"No you won't. You'll be gone," she frowned before she opened her eyes. She opened them wider when she saw him sitting on the edge of her bed. "You're still here..."

Realizing she thought she was imagining his presence, he squeezed her hand, "I'm really here, Phoebe. I'm not a hallucination or a ghost or even a visitor from the past."

Phoebe struggled to sit up and reached out with her other hand, hesitantly touching his cheek. "You're real?"

He pressed her hand to his cheek and assured her, "As real as you and the baby. It was a close call but I wasn't vanquished, Phoebe. I survived."

"How?"

Cole shook his head, "Tomorrow. We'll talk about it tomorrow when you're stronger."

"We'll talk about it now," she insisted, momentarily regaining some color in her pale face. "Do my sisters know? Have they seen you?"

He nodded, "When I got here a few minutes ago, they were in the hall with your boss."

"Great," she groaned. "Elise thinks you're dead. How're we gonna explain to her and everyoneelse aboutyour return to life?"

"Actually," he smiled, "I told her it was understandable given your anger at me." He shrugged, "She seemed to buy it. Of course the fact that she knows I'm the father was more interesting to her. D'you know there's a pool about it at work?"

"I think the lesbian insemination has best odds right now," she sighed. Phoebe suddenly frowned, "You're hiding something, I can feel it. What's going on, Cole?"

He'd forgotten about her empathic power and realized he had to tell her the rest. It wasn't the way he'd wanted to propose but he didn't have much choice. "I may have told Elise, in front of your sisters, that we'd give her the exclusive at our..." he cringed, "wedding."

"Wedding?" she gasped.

Afraid the explosion was about to come, Cole quickly tried to appease her, "I love you, Phoebe, and I know we still have issues but I don't want to be apart from you. I want us to raise our daughter together, as a family. I want you to be my wife again."

"Not again," she uttered but, when she felt his flash of fear and sadness, she quickly explained, "I can't be your wife again if I was never your wife to start with. I didn't marry you, Cole. I married the Source."

"That's definitely a discussion for another time," he quietly told her as he began to pull away and stand.

But Phoebe's fingers managed to grab his jacket and she tugged him closer, "Yes, I'll marry you."

Unsure he heard her correctly, Cole didn't move. His gaze traveled down from where her fingers grasped his jacket to her belly and back up to her brightly shining eyes. But he couldn't speak.

Sensing his confusion, she promised, "I'll marry you, Cole. Name the time and the place and I'll be there."

"The day you're released and in the backyard," he replied in a hoarse voice before clearing his throat, "if you're sure."

She caressed her belly but grimaced from the start of another contraction, "We're both sure."

Cole held her hands, allowing her to squeeze his, through the brief pain and waited for her to sink back against the pillows before he asked, "What about your sisters?"

"Like you said, we still have issues," she realized with a weary sigh, "but we'll deal with them together, as a family." She held her arms out for him and, when he pulled her up into an embrace, she finally let her tears fall, "I was bleeding and the contractions and...God, I was so scared I was gonna lose her..."

"But she's strong," he told her as he kissed the top of her head, "just like her mommy." After a moment of comforting her, he gently nudged her back, "Let the medicine do its job. Sleep."

Too tired to protest anymore, Phoebe let him tuck her in. "I need to know how you're here..." she whispered.

Cole sat down on the edge of the bed again and held her hands, bringing them both to his lips for kisses. "Short version then." She nodded in agreement and he instructed, "Close your eyes." When she did, he explained, "I know we were careful about not telling me how I was vanquished and I didn't have any intention of trying to change that fact but..." He caressed her cheek when she opened her eyes, "I'm not an angel, Phoebe, and I couldn't help myself. This morning when I was with the boys, I had them help charm something for me for protection. Given Wyatt's powers, I thought he could do it." He shrugged, "And I couldn't ignore Chris. I made it like a game but it was practice for them."

"Piper's gonna kill you..." Phoebe frowned.

"Not without the Power of Three," he smirked. "That hasn't changed."

"Not funny..." she warned. "If you were protected from your vanquish, our baby's in danger. How could you?"

"I wasn't protected completely," he sighed, recalling the painful burning that seemed to last an eternity.

She felt his pain and wanted to know more. Instead she asked, "What'd you charm?"

From his pants pocket, he pulled out the gold band and shrugged, "It was all I could think of. I didn't know what I was returning to but I knew this ring would be with me."

"What happened?" she yawned involuntarily.

"You know what happened," he smiled sadly, "I tried to recreate reality and it blew up in my face." He stroked her belly, feeling the need to be close to his child, "All I could think of was how happy we were during the few hours we were together, when I found out about the baby." He gazed into Phoebe's eyes, searching for understanding, "You said it yourself, we were at our best when we were together, when we were alone."

Phoebe placed her hand on top of Cole's and squeezed it, "Paige said we, I, vanquished you. How'd you survive if the real world replaced yours?"

"Combination of the ring and my own powers," he said. She tensed and he added, "Avatars exist outside time and space which I luckily remembered as soon as the potion hit me and --"

"Avatars?" she interrupted in concern.

"Nothing to worry about now," he assured her. "I haven't heard from them in a couple of years. You have to understand, I didn't care about joining them, only about receiving their powers in order to manipulate reality. They weren't too happy with me for rejecting them again when it failed but they did take back the powers."

Phoebe tried to stifle a yawn, wondering why, of all times, her body was finally deciding to give in to the medication. "What about the vanquish?"

"I didn't expect you to throw the potion," he admitted, "so I didn't react fast enough to miss it. But I did manage to escape a permanent end by creating an illusion to hide my escape. When I sensed reality being restored, I went along with it and returned to the penthouse."

"But the three of us went there," she countered, "and there was no sign of you. Paige assured us you were gone for good."

He nodded slowly, "By the time you got there, I'd already left everything behind to start my new life." He lightly pressed down on her belly, "That's exactly what I did, Phoebe. It was the only way to ensure that history wouldn't be changed. You had to think I'd been vanquished if our daughter was to be conceived."

"Where'd you go?" she quietly asked.

"A number of places that first year," he replied, recalling the loneliness of his decision, "Australia, London, spent some time in Spain, Brazil, Toronto, even a couple of weeks in Alaska."

"Alaska?" she shook her head, "You hate the cold."

He shrugged, "It was a job and kept my mind off the temptation to come back to you. That second year, after trying out Boston and Atlanta, I stayed for a couple of months in Miami before heading back up the coast to New York. Too many lawyers and I decided to pass on the police and became a private investigator instead."

"Not a nine-to-fiver, huh," she yawned. "Be your own boss..."

"Suits me," he acknowledged, "and I'm good at it. Sure, a lot of it's tedious but I avoid the shady clients, Phoebe, and I help people. Whether I have to use my powers on a case or not, I'm helping people."

"Probably doesn't pay much," she commented.

Cole shifted uncomfortably, "I've got, uh, other investments that keep me financially secure." She clearly wanted to know more but he shook his head not wanting to get into that bit of personal gain, "Tomorrow. You need to sleep now."

"When're you going back?" she drowsily asked, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"I'm not," he stated with some confusion. Did she still think she was dreaming? "I closed up shop last year and moved to L.A. where I've been setting everything in motion for coming back to you." He leaned forward and kissed her before promising, "I'm here permanently, Phoebe. We're getting married and will be a family right here in San Francisco."

"Setting what in motion?" she mumbled as her eyes closed.

"Plans for our future," he replied. He was about to continue when he realized she was already asleep. He leaned forward and again and lightly kissed her forehead, "Sleep, Phoebe, I'll watch over both of you." She moaned softly but didn't waken and he slowly began to massage her belly, "I love you both and tomorrow we'll start our new lives as a family."

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