CHARMED

"Timing is Everything"

by shel

© september 2005

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 casts a spell that produces unexpected consequences…

timeline: two months after the final events of season 7's finale – "something wicca this way goes"

archive: please don't without expressed permission…

notes: there are references to events from: season 7's 'witchness protection,' season 2's 'morality bites,' season 3's 'power outage,' and season 5's 'the importance of being phoebe,' and 'centennial charmed'… 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…

Part One - Faith

Phoebe sat at her window seat and smiled from the happy shrieking sounds of the boys receiving their bath. Normally, she'd have volunteered to give Piper a break and do bath-time herself but she wasn't up for it tonight. The melancholy came back today, the sadness that would spring on her when something unexpectedly reminded her of her former life. Today it was the column in the paper. Her column.

She stared at the folded newspaper in her lap and sighed. At least Elise was able to get Leslie to come back. He had known her well enough to ghostwrite for her so it was only fair he be given first shot at permanently filling her position. He'd do right by her and by her readers. But somehow that didn't make her feel better. Somehow she still felt as if she'd failed them…herself.

She pinched the bridge of her nose in an effort to stop the tears before they formed. 'I want it back. I want the column back. I want my life back. I shouldn't but I do.' She was halfway through the summer and hadn't done much but sit around and watch the kids for Piper. She loved the boys to death but they couldn't help her figure out what she wanted to do next. Thanks to their new ID's, both Paige and Piper were already moving ahead, quite eagerly and quite happily. 'I'm the one still stuck in limbo. I don't know what I want in my new life and I don't know how to let go of my old one. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.'

Sure, Piper and Paige still weren't completely used to their new physical appearances but at least they seemed better adjusted to their new lives. The chance for a fresh start held such appeal to them and it should have to her. But it didn't. 'My past made me who I am, how can I pretend it never happened? How can I simply create a new past for myself? I feel like such a fraud.'

Phoebe had spent a lot of time in the library and on the Internet searching for articles on the Witness Relocation Program. She'd hoped to find some sort of first-person account of someone who could relate to what she was going through. But the whole point of witness relocation was to hide yourself and she didn't have much luck at finding support. She'd been tempted to write to her own column for advice on how to cope but knew that would be disastrous. She'd thought of calling for Kyle who might've had some experience in the FBI with the program but rejected that idea in fear of the Elders discovering their deception.

She gazed out the window and wondered if the Elders'd ever had a clue what sacrifice the destiny of the Charmed Ones actually entailed. She let out a bitter snort and acknowledged the Elders didn't have a clue and that, if they did, they probably didn't care. 'All for the greater good. That's the lesson we learned…over and over…the hard way.'

Suddenly, her bedroom door flew open and into her room ran a very wet and naked little boy. "Wyatt," she laughed as she got up and scooped him into her arms, "did you run away from Mommy again?"

"Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, you come back here this instant!"

"I've got him!" Phoebe rubbed noses with her nephew and giggled, "C'mon, kiddo, we'd better get you ba--"

"There you are!" Piper interrupted when she entered the room carrying Chris.

"It's okay, I've got him," Phoebe assured her sister, trying not to chuckle at her sister's own wet locks. "You sure the boys were the only ones having a bath?"

"Cute," Piper glared at her.

"Tell you what," she offered, "I'll get Wyatt all dried off for you and into his jammies."

"You don't mind?" Piper questioned with relief. "Because I'd love to get started on that petit four order."

"If you can put Chris down," Phoebe agreed, "I'll take care of the little bathtub monster here."

"No monster," Wyatt giggled and squirmed when his belly was tickled.

"Thanks, Pheebs," Piper sighed with a smile before she left the room. "Come keep me company when you're done."

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Piper eyed her younger sister who had been much too quiet of late. She knew Phoebe was still having trouble adjusting to their new lives and was trying to give her sister some breathing room but she was beginning to wonder if she could help Phoebe at all. If only Phoebe didn't seem so sad. "Are they that bad?"

Startled from her thoughts, Phoebe sat up straight at the island counter. "Sorry?"

Piper placed her spatula down and said, "You haven't tried to sneak even one cookie. Everything okay?"

"Sure," Phoebe smiled and, as if to prove her point, took a lick from the bowl of cookie dough batter.

But Piper wasn't convinced and put her hands on her hips, "Pheebs, it's me. Piper? I'm your big sister and I know you better than anyone. There's something bothering you. Talk to me."

Phoebe licked her finger before she stood and walked to the sink to wash her hands. "You've gotta get out of the habit of using my name, all our names."

"You know we've protected this house," Piper reminded her. "No one can sneak in. Hell no one can listen in without tripping the amulets we've set up to guard us."

"Magic's a wonderful thing," Phoebe mused with more than a bit of irony. "But what if you slip when we're in public? You can't take the chance of someone overhearing and reporting back that we're alive."

Piper returned to forming cookies on a fresh sheet and sighed, "You're right. I guess some days there are moments when I forget that it's all different." She looked around the room, "This house is so much like our old one and sometimes…when it's just us…"

"I know," Phoebe quietly agreed. "But it has changed and we've got to be more careful in public or everything we did in vanquishing Zankou will have been for nothing."

"And the cycle of violence will start all over again," Piper continued. "I know. Is that what's worrying you, that we'll lose our normal lives if someone discovers that the Charmed Ones are still alive?"

"The Charmed Ones are still alive," Phoebe exclaimed before sadly apologizing, "don't mind me, it's been a long day, it's so hot out, even now, and I'm tired."

"It's not just that, is it? I read the column," Piper prodded. "It was good. If I hadn't known it was someone else, I'd've thought you wrote it." Phoebe didn't say anything and Piper dropped what she was doing in order to give her sister a hug. "I'm sorry, Pheebs. Out of the three of us, you're the one who lost the most when you lost your career in our new lives."

"That's not true…"

Piper smiled at her sister's lie and gently pushed her sister back. "Yeah, it is." She tucked a long loose strand of hair behind Phoebe's ear, "I don't have to be Piper Halliwell to get back into catering while I still get the income from the club through Dad's special account without the day-to-day hassle of running it. And Paige had already pretty much left the administration of Magic School and is free to find a new outlet for her skills."

Phoebe turned back to the bowl of cookie dough. "Which she's doing by going into teaching…"

But Piper didn't want to drop the conversation and prevented Phoebe from dipping into the batter. "But you lost your column, something you'd built into the success it was, and even with our new identities, it's not something you can get back."

"It's just the heat," Phoebe assured her sister, "I'll be fine in the morning, you'll see."

"Maybe we should've relocated to a different city," Piper suggested. "Maybe you wouldn't be having such a hard time if we were in a totally new environment without any of the daily reminders of our old lives."

Phoebe shook her head and insisted, "San Francisco is home, no matter what I look like or what I'm called. I'll be okay. Besides, I've got that interview lined up for tomorrow so, who knows, maybe by this time tomorrow night, I'll have a new career to call my own."

"You're terrific with kids," Piper proudly told her. "They'd be crazy not to want you at the center."

"I don't have a degree in education," Phoebe reminded her, "so there's only so much I can do."

"You'll nail this interview," Piper smiled, "I've got faith in you, Pheebs." When Phoebe smiled, a bit too brightly, in return and left the kitchen, Piper softly added, "You just have to have faith in yourself."

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