Chapter 3

Cole heard the sound of a white lighter chinking in the background, but it didn't really register in his mind. It could've been a demon for all he cared. Thinking idly, he didn't fully become aware of Leo and Phoebe's arrival in his dump, the tiny one room apartment he could afford. The small law firm he originally got a job at in Chicago got rid of him by now and he couldn't blame them. His alcoholic breath sometimes overwhelmed even the judge at court. The big wages he once got from Jackman, Carter and Kline still paid for the rent, well, for now, but he couldn't care less. The illusion of a life he tried to set up away from Phoebe proved to be just that, a delusion of his drunken mind. He didn't come to himself until the heard another chinking sound when Leo left, leaving Phoebe alone with him. He looked up and dropped the bottle in shock. It landed on the squashy, muddy carpet without breaking, where it seemed to be rolling away to an impractical distance from him. He looked at it for a long moment as it stopped by the table leg.

"Cole?" He heard his own name, the way only one person in the world used to say it. With so much love. Hey, he must be imagining it again. He looked up at her, she was still there, making a tentative step towards him, "what are you doing? What's wrong? Are you okay? I mean I know you're not, but are you feeling well?"

"What is this, some kind of game?" Cole was looking away, not sure of the strange phenomenon in from of him.

"Leo told me you were very ill, but this wasn't what I was expecting."

"Oh, I never am, up to your expectations, am I? Why does that surprise you?" He replied indignantly, pursing his lips, "so what? You're spying on me now?"

"Not more than you had done with me in the past," she watched Cole get up from his chair, swaying for a moment, "look, you need professional help. Let me…"

Cole picked up the bottle and threw it with rage onto the wall. This time, it shattered into pieces. But then, why did it matter? Phoebe was never coming back to him and he was under the influence. Drunks do foolish things, "professional help!" He giggled drunkenly, "oh yeah, the three point recovery system! Point one, accept others, even if they kicked you in the ass when you would've done anything for them, point two," he raved on, "accept the past! Accept that you have killed hundreds of people and demons, including your own brothers, accept that the love of your life killed you and never forgave you for something you haven't done! Point three, accept yourself! Yourself, that nobody seems to want to love or spend time with! Which point do you suggest I start with?"

"Me. Start with me."

"Anything different about you I don't know of? Or you're still the one that throws the most sacred human feeling I ever had in my face?" He picked up a bag from the table and took out another bottle of whiskey from it.

"Come on, you can't like hangovers," Phoebe tried quietly.

Cole looked at her as if she had two heads. But than again, his vision told him she did, "I don't have hangovers. I drink before that can happen," he said with an incredulous tone, as if what he had said was the most straight forward thing on the planet and Phoebe was weird for not knowing it, then unscrewed his bottle and took a long, unhealthy sip of the alcoholic liquid, "what the hell…?" He reacted to Phoebe interrupting his drinking and taking the bottle out of his hand, "you don't tell me what…" He started, but stopped short when Phoebe, instead of emptying his bottle into the sink, lifted it to her own lips and took a sip herself.

"Self defence," she explained, "so I don't feel your breath as much when I do this," she knocked him back onto his chair easily and sat on him, "let me show you what I mean."

Cole wanted to defend himself, push her away, stand up, say something, but he was too drunk, too foggy and too surprised to do anything else than find himself kissing her savagely, frantically, indifferently to what will come, savouring the moment. Gradually, the intense and lustful kisses turned to soft and slow, until all they did was stare into each other's eyes, lost.

Phoebe felt that moment being so special, as his eyes riveted on her and there was a look of genuine and complete happiness graced on his face. She knew she wouldn't be able to convince him right away of a better future, but she had a chance.

The Happy End.