Paige stood on the porch, touching her lips where Kyle had just placed a light kiss, while she watched his car peel out of the driveway and race down the street. He'd promised to call her and check in later but she was still worried about what he might do. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling now. At least finding her sisters hadn't meant that her whole life had been a lie. With a sigh, she went back inside and closed the door behind her only to find Piper coming her way. "I'm really not in the mood, Piper."
"We have to talk about it," Piper said. "We have to consider what we know about Kyle now and how the Avatars fit in."
"We know," Paige defiantly stated, "that Kyle is a good person and we know that the Avatars killed his parents and we know that even the Elders don't trust the Avatars and, we know that because we were distracted by the Avatars, Phoebe and Chris were nearly killed today. And we know that thanks to the Avatars we've now gotta deal with good old Belthazor, too. You and I both know we're not gonna agree on what to do next so what, exactly, do you still wanna talk about?"
Piper sighed sympathetically and drew Paige close, relieved when Paige returned the hug. "We have to stick together, Paige. We have some decisions to make that will affect our family and the magical world. And, like it or not, one of them involves Kyle. He's a demon, Paige."
"I know," Paige eventually acknowledged in a soft tone. "Ironic, isn't it?"
"What is?" Piper asked as she pulled back slightly.
Paige chuckled sadly, "That now I really get what it was like for Phoebe."
Suddenly Piper understood Paige's outbursts where Kyle was concerned. "Maybe Kyle won't become like Cole. He did spend his whole life being good."
"But he's a full demon," Paige's shoulders slumped with dejection. "At least Cole was half-human and could make the attempt to be good." She shook her head as tears stung her eyes, "It's over, Piper. Even if it's for a good reason, Kyle's gonna want those powers but he won't be able to handle them. Cole couldn't and he'd been a demon his whole life." She wiped away a tear from her cheek and continued, "The powers'll corrupt Kyle and we'll be forced to vanquish him if Zankou or the Avatars don't kill him first. Phoebe'll probably laugh her head off."
"She won't," Piper chastised, "and you know it."
Paige merely shrugged, "She kept warning me about Kyle, all her instincts…I didn't want to believe…"
Both sisters jumped when the doorbell rang and Paige quickly composed herself before her sister answered it. "Elise, what're you doing here?"
The editor of the Bay Mirror threw her hands up in exasperation and admitted, "I've got no idea. It's not like I make a habit of paying personal visits to my columnists after they've disappeared in the middle of the day." She then shoved a handbag at Paige and continued without letting Paige get in a word, "Don't bother, I'm sure it was a family emergency. There's always an emergency with this family. She left that out on her desk and you might want to tell her that I also saved the column that she left onscr-"
"Elise?"
Piper spun to find Phoebe practically clinging to the wall of the landing. "You," she admonished as she darted towards her younger sister, "shouldn't be out of bed!"
"What's wrong?" Elise asked in concern when she saw how Phoebe nearly sagged into Piper's arms. "You seemed fine this morning. Have you seen a doctor?"
"Um, yeah," Paige quickly said as she set Phoebe's bag down on the console table, "that's why we sort of flew out of the office."
"Sorry," Phoebe weakly apologized, "there wasn't time to tell you, anyone…happened without warning."
Elise waved away the apology, "What'd the doctor say?"
Piper answered before Phoebe could, "It's a bug and she needs to stay in bed." She nudged Phoebe back up a step, "Can you manage back up by yourself?"
"I got down by myself," Phoebe snapped and flushed with annoyance at both her sister for the implication and herself for realizing her sister was right. The room wouldn't stop spinning and she wasn't sure her legs would hold her up much longer.
"Listen to your sister," Elise ordered, "and go back to bed. You look like hell."
Piper smiled gratefully to Elise before telling Phoebe, "You haven't eaten a thing since breakfast so get back in bed and I'll bring you some soup."
"Sounds like a good idea," Elise agreed. "Call me tomorrow and we'll talk about your working from home if you're up to it. At least I've already gotten about a week's worth of extra columns to play with. Now you - Oh my God," she gasped when she spotted Cole enter the hallway.
"Elise," he greeted with a nod.
Elise glanced from him to Phoebe, "You said he was dead."
"I got better," he shrugged, mentally acknowledging the ironic truth to that statement. He was better. Or at least he was thinking better, more clearly.
Elise glared at him and poked him in the chest with her index finger, "Well I don't care. It's taken Phoebe a long time to get her life back on track and I don't want you messing with her head. You stay away from her."
Touched by Elise's continued support, Phoebe assured her friend, "Trust me, Cole isn't the problem right now. All I need is some rest and I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Encouraged by Phoebe's slight smile, Elise sternly said, "We will talk tomorrow."
"Thanks, Elise," Phoebe told her, "for everything."
Elise acknowledged her sincerity with a simple pat on her arm, "Get some rest, Phoebe." Before she turned to leave, she warned Cole, "I mean it…You don't want to mess with me, Mr. Turner."
Obviously the two had developed a closer relationship than what he was familiar with and Cole couldn't help but grin at the protectiveness Phoebe's boss displayed, "Don't you just love a challenge?"
No sooner had Elise harrumphed and stormed out than her sisters began with their demands and Phoebe, without thinking, turned to Cole for support. But, to her annoyance, he'd actually agreed with her sisters and had the nerve to declare her unreasonably pig-headed for having attempted to leave her bed without calling for help first. "I'm okay," she muttered as she jerked herself free from Piper's grip, "I'm not some baby."
"Then stop acting like one," Piper snapped. "Leo doesn't have the strength to heal you if you hurt yourself because you're too stubborn to stay in bed."
"What's wrong with Leo?" Phoebe asked in shock.
"Long story," Paige answered as Phoebe took a few steps towards the living room.
"And we have a lot to talk about," Piper sighed as she realized Phoebe didn't know about Kyle either.
Phoebe paused in front of Cole and was about to speak but she shook her head instead. She'd obviously been dreaming. No sense in asking him about it. After everything they'd put him through, there's no way it could've been anything but a dream. But his voice echoed in her head and she lightly shook it again as if to clear the words from it, 'I love you, Phoebe…'
Cole glanced at her sisters in concern when Phoebe seemed dazed. "Phoebe?" He caught her just as her knees buckled.
"Maybe I should lie down," she quietly conceded even as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She shut her eyes and leaned in closer but she didn't know if it was more to stop the dizziness or more because it felt so unexpectedly good to be held by him again.
By the time he'd shimmered to her room and set her on her bed only moments later, Phoebe was asleep. He tugged on the comforter and drew it over her and, when she murmured unintelligibly and snuggled under the cover, he resisted the urge to smile. He'd always loved watching her sleep. She'd been young enough for him as it was but, in her sleep, she somehow recaptured the innocence of childhood she'd long since lost and, given his own upbringing, he'd found it refreshing to see and somehow share. Just as he was about to finger some of her dark locks, Paige and Piper entered the room and he immediately stepped back, "She's only asleep."
"It was too close," Piper whispered before gratefully feeling her youngest sister's encouraging hand squeeze.
Again, Paige gently squeezed her sister's hand, "But we didn't lose her."
Cole simply nodded but, before they could accuse him of anything or warn him once again, he shimmered away without a word.
As they crept closer to Phoebe, Paige asked, "What was that all about?"
Piper tenderly swept some hair off Phoebe's face and replied, "She's asleep so there's nothing for him to do here."
Paige looked skeptically at her older sister, "Unusual for Cole, wouldn't you say? It's the perfect opportunity for him to be with her because she can't send him away but he leaves without a word?"
Piper carefully sat on the edge of the bed, "Could be he's afraid…"
"Cole, afraid?" Paige snorted. "Not likely."
"Paige…"
Paige watched her sisters and finally sighed, "All right, so maybe he's not the big bad wolf right now. But do you really think it's a good thing that he's back? What if the cycle starts all over again?"
"They need to talk," Piper said, "and until they do, until come to terms with what happened to them, we've gotta give them their space."
"Easier said than done," Paige whispered. "I can't forget what he did to me. He targeted me, Piper, me."
"And he attacked me when I was pregnant," Piper nodded sympathetically. "Maybe Phoebe's not the only one who needs to find closure with him."
"Maybe," Paige considered. "But what if…" Paige couldn't complete her thought because she wasn't ready to accept the possibility that Phoebe would want Cole back. Closure was something she could understand but for Phoebe to want to start over again? Maybe Piper was right, maybe Phoebe wasn't the only one who needed to confront Cole. And maybe he did seem a bit more clear-headed now and they'd be able to have a reasonable conversation but what then? Would he leave, this time, on his own if they asked? Would they have to force him?
Piper looked at her youngest sister and could almost hear Paige's thoughts. The same thoughts she'd had since Cole's return. Did Phoebe simply want closure or did she want Cole back? Phoebe'd never been the same since he'd been gone and none of her relationships had lasted. Phoebe'd never admitted it but Piper suspected that no man would ever truly measure up to Cole, no matter how bad things had gotten with him. Piper sighed, "Cole's everything she ever wanted in a man."
"Yeah, yeah, tall, dark, and handsome," Paige distractedly mumbled.
But Piper shook her head, "It's more than that. Not long after we got our powers, Phoebe and I did a spell to find the man of our dreams and -"
"Oh ho," Paige smirked, "so all that talk about personal gain…"
Piper stuck out her tongue, "At least you had us to warn you about consequences. The point is, we had to write down exactly what we were looking for in a man and, I'm telling you, Cole fits the bill. I don't even know if Phoebe ever made the connection. I certainly didn't until just now."
Paige's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, "So you're telling me that Cole's appearance in our lives was all because of a delayed reaction to a spell Phoebe performed?"
"Of course not," Piper immediately replied. "At least I don't think so. Does it matter? We can't change the past and Cole's definitely a part of it." Which brought her back to her original thoughts about the demon. Would he ever be able to remain good? Or was he really a lost cause? And would Phoebe put them all at risk again trying to find out?
Paige's thoughts of Cole turned to Kyle. What if he received his powers, what if he became the demon he was? 'Could I fight for him like Phoebe fought for Cole? Would I put us all at risk to save him?' She gazed down at Phoebe and understood even more what Phoebe had been through. "I have to see Kyle," she suddenly stated.
Piper nodded, stood, and gave her sister a peck on the cheek, "Good luck, sweetie, and remember we're with you, whatever happens…"
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