Charmed & Dangerous—Part 5
Summary: Rumors spread through the underworld of a new dark power that will rise and vanquish the Charmed Ones…or are they after something else? The next installment of my Phoebe/Paige saga.
Rating: R
A thin shaft of light spilled across the Halliwell kitchen as the youngest inhabitant stood in front of the refrigerator, squinting through the glare until she found a container of orange juice wedged between Prue's iced coffee and Piper's leftover goat cheese pizza. Without a backwards glance, she grabbed the juice and took a swallow directly from the carton. Still holding the late night treat, she leaned back with a contented sigh as arms wound around her waist, and warm lips brushed her ear.
"Hey sweet thing, whatcha doin' out of bed this late?" Paige murmured, her voice husky with sleep.
"Just needed a drink," Phoebe whispered back, leaning more fully into Paige's inviting arms. She kept her voice low automatically, despite the fact that they were alone in the kitchen; the feeling of sleep, of the blanket of night, was heavy through the house, and Phoebe felt an instinctual respect for that veil of darkness. This was its proper place, and she had no desire to disturb it.
"Hmmm, I'm thirsty too," Paige hummed, her fingers grazing teasingly over Phoebe's stomach. Phoebe offered her the orange juice container. "Not for juice," Paige whispered wickedly in her ear, and Phoebe giggled, dropping the carton back on the shelf and turning in her girlfriend's arms as the fridge door slid shut, the small crack of light vanishing back into the night.
"Awww, does baby need some sugar?" Phoebe asked sweetly, leaning up to give Paige a sweet, orange flavored kiss. It started out tender and sleepy, but soon turned more heated. Phoebe nibbled on Paige's bottom lip, which she knew would make her girlfriend make the most delightful noises. She wasn't disappointed, and Paige's soft whimper spurred Phoebe on to deepen the kiss, wrapping one leg around Paige's, sliding her foot lightly up and down her girlfriend's calf. Paige growled, pushing Phoebe back against the kitchen table and crawling on top of her.
They both froze at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Phoebe gave a small squeak of alarm, her hands tightening in Paige's hair. Paige reacted immediately, orbing them both out moments before the kitchen door swung open to reveal Piper and Leo, hunting for their own midnight snack. Moments later, the two giggling lovers reappeared upstairs in Phoebe's bed.
"Close shave," Phoebe observed. "Lucky for me my girlfriend has superpowers."
"Feel free to pay me back any way you like," Paige drawled, nibbling Phoebe's earlobe. As she did so, Phoebe arched up into her mouth, levitating them both off the bed as if it were a natural extension of her own movement. And it was.
When they finally floated back down to the bed, some time later, both were sighing sleepily and trading soft, gentle touches.
"Why does it seem like I never get any sleep when I sleep at your house?" Paige wondered aloud, her head nestled comfortably against Phoebe's shoulder.
"Probably cause you're an insatiable vixen who can't keep her hands to herself for more than five minutes," Phoebe replied in the same sleepy drawl. Paige leaned up on one elbow, smirking, and dropped a long, slow kiss on her girlfriend's already kiss-swollen lips.
"Are you complaining?" She asked coyly.
"Never," Phoebe replied seriously.
"Good," Paige nodded, an adorably serious expression on her face. She studied Phoebe for a moment, her mock-serious face giving way to an authentically thoughtful expression.
"Whatcha thinkin', baby?' Phoebe asked softly, reaching up to run her fingers over Paige's lips.
"Remember that beautiful sunset you showed me at the beach, on our first date?"
"Of course," Phoebe nodded, smiling involuntarily. Paige grinned back. Then she sat up.
"C'mon." She tugged Phoebe up into a sitting position. "I wanna take you somewhere." Phoebe glanced at the clock.
"At two thirty in the morning?"
"We'll only be gone a little while…you don't even have to change out of your jammies." Phoebe leaned forward and kissed Paige deeply.
"Okay." Smiling, their bodies still entwined, the two dissolved in a haze of brilliant white lights.
Piper and Leo had long since finished their midnight snack of cookies and milk, and were back in their own bed, deeply asleep. Piper was nestled up against her husband's strong chest, when he sat up suddenly, gasping, jerking her awake as well. Both being used to any order of late-night attacks, they were awake and alert immediately.
"Leo, what?" Piper began to ask, but before she could finish her question, a blaze of white lights erupted at the foot of their bed, as two figured orbed in.
"Leo, Piper, help!" Paige cried. She was cradling Phoebe's unconscious form, her stomach soaked with blood from a horrible, gaping wound.
"Oh, Goddess," Piper gasped, all the color leaving her face as she saw her baby sister drenched in blood. Leo was already reaching his hands out to heal Phoebe when Prue burst through the door, having also been awakened by Paige's scream. Leo's hands began to glow, signifying that his healing powers were in use. Everyone else in the room felt the vice grip on their hearts loosen slightly, as they all knew that Phoebe must still be alive. They were all so focused on Phoebe, that they nearly didn't notice the demon that appeared in a haze of black smoke.
"The Queen of Shadows will rise!" He screamed, a fanatic gleam in his catlike yellow eyes as he held back an energy ball in his hand. Not missing a beat, Prue turned and threw him across the room with her powers, a second before Piper blew him to oblivion. Paige didn't even look up. She watched as all the blood covering her and Phoebe seemed to slide backwards, into Phoebe's stomach; then the skin mended, and finally her tattered nightshirt. Leo gave a grunt of exhaustion, slumping back as he removed his hands. Piper looked at him in alarm, knowing that it took a lot to tap him of his healing powers.
"Leo, is she?" Piper whispered, too terrified to complete her sentence. Then Phoebe opened her eyes unsteadily, a hazy expression on her face, as if she'd been deeply asleep. She looked up at Paige and smiled.
"Close shave," she murmured. Paige burst into tears, burying her face in Phoebe's hair as she sobbed. "Hey," Phoebe murmured, "it's okay, I'm okay baby…ssssh…I'm okay." Prue, Piper and Leo all looked at each other, wanting answers, but knowing it would be a few minutes before they got any. They all realized that this was the first time Phoebe's girlfriend had ever witnessed an injury of this magnitude, one that required Leo's intervention. And they could all remember how terrifying it had been; when you thought someone you loved was dying. Paige was still sobbing uncontrollably, nearing hysterics. Phoebe was holding her tight, rubbing her back in soothing circles, whispering words of assurance in a calm, loving voice.
"Sssh, sweet girl…I'm here…I'm not going anywhere…just breathe, baby, please. You have to calm down, or you're going to make yourself sick." Phoebe took one of Paige's hands and placed it over her own heart, taking a deep, slow breath. "Breathe with me, love." She took another deep breath, her eyes locked with Paige's, who tried to imitate her. Her breath came out in a ragged gasp. "Good girl," Phoebe murmured, "Again." They took another breath together; this time Paige managed a slightly deeper inhalation. "That's my baby girl," Phoebe smiled through her tears, leaning forward to cover Paige's face with whisper-soft butterfly kisses. As Paige's breathing returned to a somewhat normal, if winded, level, Phoebe pulled back and smiled at her with an expression of utter devotion. "You saved my life, Paige." Paige shook her head, casting her eyes down at the bed.
"Leo saved your life…I'm the one that nearly got you killed."
"Honey, that's ridiculous! How was it your fault?"
"If I'd just orbed us out sooner…reacted faster…"
"Paige, baby, look at me." Phoebe grabbed Paige's face with both hands, forcing her eyes back up. "There was no way we could have anticipated that attack. You orbed me to Leo. You saved my life. Period."
"But it was my idea in the first place…" Paige said softly, her voice still trembling with guilt.
"Honey, listen to what you're saying. There is no way we could've anticipated a demon attack while watching the sunrise!"
"Sunrise?" Prue said hesitantly. She didn't want to break into this private moment between the two lovers any more than anyone else did, but as the oldest and arguably the most stubborn of the lot, she couldn't wait another minute to find out what had happened. She looked out the window for confirmation, then back at Phoebe. "Pheebs, it's the middle of the night."
"Not in Paris," Phoebe said contritely. Her hand slipped down to Paige's leg in a gentle caress. A faint grin finally appeared on Paige's tearstained face.
"Paris?" Piper cried, looking at her husband indignantly. Why didn't he ever orb her anywhere anymore?
"Ohhh, we were gonna bring you guys back fresh croissants," Phoebe said flippantly. "And we were only gone for, like, half an hour. Paige wanted to show me the sunrise from the top of the Eiffel tower." Phoebe gave Paige another bottomless smile, and Paige couldn't help but smile back. Cupping her distressed girlfriend's cheek in her hand, Phoebe kissed her.
"So you got attacked by a demon at the top of the Eiffel tower?' Prue asked incredulously.
"Yup," Phoebe agreed. In trademark Phoebe style, now that the danger was past, she was 100 business and ready to talk shop. "Glad you guys all saw him, so I won't have to make the ID myself."
"Did he say anything when he attacked you the first time? Anything besides, 'the Queen of Shadows will rise'?" Phoebe and Paige looked at each other, and everyone knew that he had indeed said something.
"Actually…" Paige said hesitantly. Her voice was hoarse from crying. "He did say one other thing. Before he said that the Queen of Shadows would rise…he said, 'The Children of the Light will bleed.'"
"The Children of Light?" Piper asked, frowning. "Does that mean white lighters? This demon queen is after white lighters?" She didn't like the sound of that at all, and she scooted closer to Leo under the blankets.
"I'm not a white lighter," Paige reminded them, her head drooping onto Phoebe's shoulder in exhaustion. Even since the moment the demon had attacked, she had been running on a massive dose of adrenalin. Now that the danger was past, it was draining away, leaving her feeling profoundly weak and spent. Phoebe could sense Paige's exhaustion, and pulled her girlfriend more firmly into her arms, her hand still stroking Paige's leg.
"Look," said Phoebe, "whatever this thing is, whatever it's after, we obviously have a lot of research to do. We should all be safe in the manor, for tonight at least, so I vote for starting fresh in the morning. We all need to get some sleep." There was a murmur of consensus, and everyone rose to return to their own bedrooms. Paige clung to Phoebe like a sleepy child, not letting her go for a second.
"Hey," Phoebe murmured when they were finally back in their bed. She gently smoothed Paige's hair back from her face, wiping away the drying tear tracks from her reddened cheeks. "Are you okay, baby? Really?" Paige's eyes were already drooping, but she fought to keep them open. Phoebe knew they would have to have a more serious conversation in the morning, but for now, she wanted assurance that her girlfriend wasn't going to sleep just to wake up screaming in five minutes.
"Thought I was gonna lose you," Paige murmured, her eyes filling with fresh tears as she looked up into Phoebe's concerned face.
"You're never going to lose me," Phoebe said fiercely, squeezing Paige's hand in her own.
"I love you," Paige whispered. Despite the terror and emotional roller coaster they'd been through in the past hour, Phoebe felt joy rising up inside her like pure, liquid sweetness at the sound of those words from Paige's lips.
"I love you too, my sweet girl." Phoebe leaned forward and kissed Paige's sleepy face. By the time she pulled back to look at her, Paige was fast asleep, her hand still holding Phoebe's. Smiling, Phoebe nestled down next to her, breathing in the soothingly sweet scent of Paige's hair. The demon's words echoed in her head…the children of the light will bleed. Whatever Paige said to the contrary, she was more white lighter than not, and Phoebe was worried about what was out there, after her baby. In the morning, she thought sleepily…we'll figure it out in the morning.
