CHARMED

"A Phone Call Away"

by shel

© november 2004

disclaimer: the charmed ones, cole, and leo, and the rest of the cast of characters we've come to know and love, belong to spelling television, inc. and possible other copyright holders. i intended no true infringement on their copyrights; i only wanted to borrow these marvelous characters for a short time in my own scenarios and hopefully return them no worse for wear; the only things i've gained from this story are the satisfaction and pleasure of having written it and in knowing that others may have enjoyed it too…

rating: pg-13

summary: phoebe and cole have a heart-to-heart phone call…

timeline: late evening/early morning after the final events of season 4's, 'trial by magic' (the ep between 'paige from the past' and 'lost and bound')…

archive: please don't without expressed permission…

notes: some reference to season 4's 'black as cole'…please let me know if you enjoyed my tale and why and, if not, why not…and, please, don't bother wasting your time or mine by sending any flames…

Phoebe had just dozed off when the phone rang but, having been holding the phone in her hand waiting for his call, she managed to answer it before the first ring even ended, "Where are you?"

"Some town up the coast. How'd you know it was me?"

She glanced at the clock and stifled a yawn, "Who else calls me at two in the morning?"

"Darryl?"

"Not funny," she rolled her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Don't think I can protect myself?"

"I meant emotionally," she told him, frowning from his defensive tone. "I'm worried about you. How much longer 'til you come home?"

"So you think that little of my own abilities to take care of myself?"

"I don't," she unintentionally snapped. Was he deliberately picking a fight? She didn't want to argue with him and she sat up, propping her pillow behind her. "I told you I'm worried about you. You keep going off on your own and don't say much more to me other than you're trying to find yourself."

"Sorry, babe…Just as well I'm not there, I'm not much good company."

"Isn't there anything I can do? No," she sighed as she slid down slightly in her spot, "don't answer, I've done enough, haven't I?"

"What d'you mean?"

"I'm the reason you're human now and off trying to find yourself." She brought her knees up to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the image of Belthazor's vanquish. "That damned potion I made to strip your powers. We never really thought about the consequences."

"Don't blame yourself for something we both wanted. Besides, you saved me, Phoebe. I warned you I wouldn't've been able to turn back from Belthazor this time."

"We don't know that," she mumbled.

"It's a moot point now. I love you, Phoebe, and always will, but this's something I have to get used to."

She missed him so much. "I wish you didn't have to do it alone."

"I'm not alone, I know you're waiting for me."

"Always…" she promised.

"What's going on by you? Still on jury duty?"

"Nope, it's over. We won," Phoebe told him right before she yawned.

"Why do I have the feeling it wasn't a run-of-the-mill trial?"

"When do we ever have a run-of-the-mill anything?" she chuckled. "Defendant was innocent but only I knew it because of magic and the only way to prove it was to do a séance for the other jurors."

"Exposing magic like that can be dangerous."

"Don't worry, Leo dusted 'em," Phoebe grinned, "after we vanquished the rat demon and saved our innocent."

"Rat demon?"

She recognized the worry in his tone and assured him, "Disgusting creature but we got him."

"I'm sure you did. Good, always hated dealing with them. Avoided it whenever possible. So, what else've I missed?"

"Me?" she tried to joke. But she was a bit afraid of his answer.

"Of course."

Phoebe exhaled in relief and hoped he hadn't heard. She didn't want him to think of her as a desperately clinging girlfriend, no, fiancée, with no life of her own. She sighed and informed him, "Another rejection. You know, one of those agency-scripted phone calls, 'Thanks for sending in your resume, we'll get back to you when something comes available.'"

"You'll find something soon."

"Will I?" It was only the latest in a string of disappointing interviews. If it wasn't her age, it was her lack of experience, but mostly it was the flexible-time issue that went against her. "Who's gonna hire me when I need to run off at the drop of a hat to fight evil as a Charmed One?"

"The right job is out there, Phoebe, waiting to fall into your lap."

"I hope so…" She was quiet a moment before she remembered, "Oh, Paige's boyfriend, Glen, knows our secret."

"What?!"

"It's okay," she soothed, "he promised to keep our secret."

"You don't know anything about him!"

"I know," she acknowledged, "but I trust Paige and she trusts him. And she's right. It's good for her to have someone other than her sisters to talk to about the magical part of her life." But Phoebe didn't want to talk about Paige. She wanted to hear about him. "Tell me about you. Are you sleeping any better? Are you eating? I…I miss you. I'm cold without you."

"Then I'll work extra hard to warm you up when I come back."

"Didn't mean it that way," she rolled her eyes before she quickly explained, "I mean, I do miss you that way but I mean it's just…Oh, Cole, when you're not here, I feel so empty, that there's a part of me missing. I've never felt this way about anyone and it's a little scary."

"Thank you."

Taken aback, she wondered, "For being scared and lonely?"

"For reminding me that I'm not alone in feeling that way."

Encouraged by his admission she confessed, "I've tried to be strong, to be understanding, but I feel like you're pulling away and that scares me."

"Guess you know what I was feeling when you turned down my proposal…"

"I'm sorry…" she whispered shamefully.

"Don't be sorry, just tell me you'll be there for me."

"Of course I will," Phoebe quickly told him. "For so long I refused to let love, real love, into my life and then you came along and turned my world upside down. And now I miss you when you're not here. I miss talking to you and laughing with you. I even miss arguing with you. And I wish I wasn't so…"

"What?"

"I wish I wasn't so scared." The words had slipped out before she even realized it.

"Of what? Phoebe, what's really going on?....Damn…dammit…"

"What?" she worried. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I tried shimmering back to you…"

"Oh, Cole, I'm so sorry." All she wanted was to put her arms around him and hold him close. "I'm so sorry."

"What were you about to tell me?"

Not really wanting to get into it, she finally said, "I wish I wasn't so helpless and knew how to help you."

"Here's how…Tell me the truth."

"Cole…"

"Phoebe…please…"

"I wish…" She took a deep breath and forced the words out, "I wish I had enough trust in your love to believe that you won't leave me."

"Phoebe, I'm not going to leave you."

"Loving me doesn't mean you won't leave me," she insisted. "It's happened too many times before. Besides, how could I blame you for wanting to get as far away from me as possible? Why should you even think of coming back when you know you'll only grow to resent me for hurting you like this. I've killed you."

"That's enough! The only one you helped kill was Belthazor!"

"But he was you!" she argued. "And we can't pretend anymore that he wasn't," she realized. "He was a part of you, Cole. A part I'd finally accepted."

"And Emma had wanted to kill all of me. Would you rather that have happened?"

"Of course not!" she snapped.

"Then stop feeling guilty."

"I'm n--"

"I made a mistake, Phoebe. I thought I could find what I was missing by going off alone when I should've trusted in your love to let you help me. Ironic that here I've been worried about you leaving me."

"What? Why would I do that?" she gasped in horror. "I love you, Cole. You've brought so much into my life that I can't even imagine my life without you in it. Maybe your powers made it convenient but they're not why we connected. God, sometimes we're so in sync, it's almost scary. We can make each other laugh, drive each other crazy. Hell, we don't even have to speak and I can tell what you're feeling. Nothing supernatural about it, it's just love. And I love you just as much today as I did yesterday, last month, or even last year. You have to believe me, Cole." He didn't speak and she panicked, "Cole? Are you there?"

"…I believe you, Phoebe…Thank you."

Breathing a sigh of relief, she uttered, "For what?"

"For helping me. For supporting me and listening to me. For…loving me."

"Come home, Cole," she requested as tears filled her eyes.

"I'll head back in the morning…Phoebe? Be patient…wait for me."

"I love you, Cole," she softly declared, "and I'll wait an eternity if I have to."

"I need you, Phoebe. I need you to love me. But, more than that, I need you to believe in me. Without your love and support, I'm not sure I'd have anything to live for."

"Don't say things like that!" she warned. "You've got so much to live for whether I'm in your life or not!" She took a deep breath and calmed herself, "I'm not going anywhere and I'll help you find out what it is Cole Turner wants out of life."

"Just you, babe, just you…"

"You've got me," she promised. He was quiet and she finally relaxed enough to slide down so that she was lying in bed. She snuggled under the covers, holding the phone close to her ear, content listening to the sounds of his breathing.

"What're you wearing?"

"Why?" she warily asked. "It's two a.m., Cole, wha'd'you think I'm wearing?"

"I haven't seen you in a week and want to picture you. Might help me sleep better for the long drive back."

Peeking at her orange nightshirt, a grin slowly spread across her face. "I'm not wearing a thing."

"Liar."

She chuckled, "I suppose you're dressed in your jammies too?"

"Actually, I just got out of the shower and am still wrapped in a towel around my waist, barely though. You know those motel towels? Very thin, not very wide, barely larger than the washcloth."

Stunned by the image her mind produced, it took Phoebe a moment to get her brain functional again. She threw off her covers and muttered, "And I thought you lost all your powers."

"You know I did."

Realizing he'd taken her comment wrong, she made sure he'd understand her tease, "Then how'd it suddenly get so hot in my room?" When she heard him laugh, she turned serious and, again, requested, "Come home, Cole."

"I'll see you tomorrow night."

"I'll make sure we have the house to ourselves," she promised. "Oh, and Cole? Don't be too good yet that you don't steal the towel."

"Not much of a souvenir."

"Literally…" she grinned, her imagination already toying with a number of uses for it.

"…Gonna be a long night…"

"You started it," she smiled without the least bit of sympathy. "Love you…"

"Me too."

Momentarily startled by his use of Prue's familiar phrase, she simply said, "Tomorrow night, Cole…"

"No more running off on my own, promise…"

"Thank you," Phoebe whispered before she disconnected the call with a loving sigh. "Tomorrow night," she murmured as she snuggled under the covers and wished it already was tomorrow. She closed her eyes and sighed again, Cole was coming home to her and that was all that mattered.

the end