Falling down

Chapter 2 – Is she my daughter

Cole was sitting in the underworld at a demon congress, discussing the future of the underworld. Every demon was supposed to say what he thought is the best for it. But, before he had time to say everything he wanted to, he heard a crash outside the dungeon. He went out to see what it is and saw Paige chained to a wall and Piper and Phoebe fighting the guards who kept her there. He just leaned on a wall and waited to see what will happen, although he knew that already. The guards were many and powerful, and soon Piper and Phoebe were chained to a wall, too. That made him smile, but no from the heart.

"Leo!" Phoebe yelled. "LEOOOO!"

"No... PHOEBE!" Piper yelled "Don't call him! He banded us, remember?"

"No, Piper, he didn't do that, that's what you thought he was doing. He had to join the Elders, but you just can't understand that." Paige said. "So... LEO!"

For a couple of seconds, somebody shimmered in. The sisters thought that it was a demon, and they got really scared. But, once the shimmering stopped, Phoebe saw her daughter, Melinda. She turned her head to see Cole. She got so scared.

Cole was pretty surprised to see a girl shimmering in the middle of the underworld. She turned around and looked at him. At once, he felt like he was looking at younger Phoebe, except of her eyes which were… just like his.

"Mom, what's going on here?" Melinda turned to Phoebe. "Who are all these demons and what are you and my aunts doing in the middle of the underworld?"

"Mom?" Cole repeated. His voice was just a little bit louder than a whisper. "You're Phoebe's… daughter?"

"This is not happening" Phoebe thought "This can't be happening. Please, God, don't let this happen!"

"Yeah, I'm Melinda." She said coldly "And you are…"

"Probably future king of the underworld." Phoebe quickly added. "Mel, shimmer up and call Leo. They'll chain you, too! Hurry!"

"No, they won't. They can't catch me." Melinda smiled "I can go up, to the Elders and they can't go there. Mom, I'll repeat my question: who is this man? Don't lie to me, because if he was just a demon, he wouldn't call you 'Phoebe'."

"Well, this is…" Phoebe took a breath. But, before she could say another word, a demon threw a fireball at Melinda. She quickly shimmered out. Than she shimmered back in and said "I'll go get help." And again shimmered out.

"Let them go." Cole ordered.

"No way! These are the Charmed Ones!" one of the guards yelled.

"I said let them go. Besides, the girl's goona come back with an Elder and a few more witches, so you won't have any chance. Let them go." Cole repeated. He passed by Phoebe and said quietly "We have to talk… now"

"I believe that you and I have nothing to talk about" Phoebe replied coldly.

"Well, you're wrong." He said. He waved his hand and the chains around her were gone. "Come with me."

They went to an empty dungeon. Phoebe felt like she's gonna faint, so she sat on a chair.

"Who is that girl, Phoebe?" Cole broke the silence.

"That was Melinda, my daughter." Phoebe tried to buy some time to think of a lie good enough to fool Cole.

"Yes, I came to that conclusion myself, thank you." Cole looked at her. "Look, I'll be honest with you… Who's the father?"

"Jason Dean." Phoebe lied. "You see, he was my boss when I worked at the Bay Mirror. Well, later I discovered that he was a demon, so I tried to vanquish him, not realizing that I was pregnant. I didn't manage to vanquish him, but than he ran away to Hong Kong to fool some other witch. Bastard…" Phoebe was surprised by how much that lie sounded true. "Why did you want to know?"

"Because I wanted to hear the truth." Cole knew that she was lying. "I'll tell you something: you're good at lying, but not good enough to fool me. I know you better than my own pocket. And it's okay: if you can't tell me that, at least tell me how old is she."

"She's fourteen." Phoebe lied again, but this time, she tried to act like she believes in what she just said.

"Oh… " This time, Cole was tricked. "Okay, than. But, please, tell me who is her father. I really need to know, Phoebe. I have to know!"

"Well… You're not going to like what I'm about to say, but… Miles is the father. Do you remember my sweet Miles, my boyfriend that Bacarra tried to kill? Well, Melinda is his daughter."

"What about the shimmering?"

"I'm to ashamed to tell you that part." Phoebe was trapped. She was caught in a second lie and she had only one more chance to convince Cole.

"Tell me." Cole looked at her. "Tell me and don't worry. I'm no one to judge you."

"When she was borned, I casted a spell which gave Melinga the power of shimmering. I actually tried to give her the power to orb, but it didn't go that well."

"Oh… Okay, than… By the way, I'm sorry about your boyfriend." Cole tried to act normally, although he was disapointed. For a minute, he actually thought that he has a daughter.

"No, you're not. I know that I can't lie to you, but you can't lie to me, neither, Cole." She said "You thought that she was your daughter, I know that. You never really liked Miles, and now you dislike him even more because of the daugher he kid of stole from you. So, you're not sorry…" she turned around and left the dugeon…

Next morning…

"An he believed in all the lies you told him?" Piper was fascinated when Phoebe told her what happened.

"Actually, yes."

"Looks like he didn't know you that well, after all. I wouldn't believe in that if I was him." Paige simply said.

"Yeah, but you're her sister. Besides, you already know that Melinda is Cole's daughter." Piper looked at Paige.

"Well, I'm her sister, but he was the only love of her life and she was the only woman he ever loved, so I think that if that feeling desapears, at least the sense for a lie remains."

"You were obviously wrong." Phoebe said. "I felt so sad lying to him. I mean, I always wanted for Melinda to get to know her father, but not like this. He is evil. If I told him that she's his daughter, he probably wouldn't care at all."

"You know that that's a lie, Phoebe." Piper disagreed with Phoebe's point of view.

"Perhaps." Phoebe looked at the photo of her and Cole. "And I know that I can't hide the truth forever, but my daughter and Cole won't hear the truth… at least for now."