Piper slipped the file folder into the kitchen with her so she could read it while she cleaned up the remnants of dinner. The more she read, the more convinced she became that this was their man. And the more convinced she became, the more nervous she became about what had to come next. She could hear Leo and Paige chatting over dessert and Wyatt trying to wheedle a visit to the park out of Phoebe.
"It worked out really well for these kids Leo," Paige was telling him animatedly.
"Their Attorney ad litem was a real bear about their interests in the endless court proceedings. The children come out of the system so much better when there is someone who not only zealously represents their interests, but knows enough about their case to actually be of some use."
"That makes sense." Leo managed between mouthfuls of sherbet
"It's not that they aren't all qualified, but you know how it can be sometimes when the government is doing the paying. Even if they did volunteer to be on the list, some just work harder than others."
"Auntie Phoebe, park, you promised," Wyatt's voice cut over the top of the conversation.
"Yes munchkin, I promised. Let's get Chris into his stroller and I'll take you both to the park for awhile."
"Goodie!" he squealed.
"Wyatt, you remember the rules?" Leo asked his son.
"Yes Daddy, no magic," his voice trailed off to a whisper on the last word.
Leo stifled a smile. "That's right, and son, it's okay to say the word. You be good and have fun."
Piper held her breath anxiously as she listened to Phoebe gathering the boys and leaving the house. She tried to keep her hand from shaking as she picked up the folder and headed for the dining room. Now or never.
"Phoebe and the boys leave?" Piper asked needlessly as she joined Leo and Paige at the table.
"Yep, they'll be gone for about an hour," Paige replied. "Whatcha got there?" Paige pointed to the folder Piper had set on the table in front of her.
"A file."
"Very funny. I can see that it's a file, but you don't usually walk around with files, so…"
"I asked Archie to try and find someone for me and this is what he came up with."
"Who'd you lose?" Paige quipped
"Well, it wasn't exactly for me, I'm just the one who asked. Look, I need to declare this a family meeting so we can talk about this."
" A family meeting," Leo inquired suspiciously. "Phoebe isn't here and, so far, the more you've talked the less clear things have become."
"Things will get clearer honey. Phoebe isn't here for a reason. This is kind of about her. That's why it's a family meeting, because it directly concerns the welfare of a family member."
"Kind of?" Paige asked. " Back to another point. I can't think of any reason to look for someone, unless they were part of our past and I thought that was a no-no. So why would Archie help you do something he told us we couldn't do?"
"Special circumstances." Piper rubbed her hand across her forehead and knew she had better get to the point. "Look, just hear me out. I know you aren't going to like what I have to say, but I guess I'm hoping you'll understand."
"Go ahead."
Piper looked from Leo to Paige and back again, then she began.
"You both know how sad Phoebe has been, right? I mean, even Wyatt notices how often she cries."
"Clown nose," they interrupted in unison.
"Yeah. Well, I figured that the reason she is so unhappy is, without magic to distract her, family and work just aren't enough. She needs more to make her life complete." Piper took a deep breath, closed her eyes and finished in a rush, "So I asked Archie to find Cole." She didn't have long to wait for a reaction.
"Piper, are you sure you're feeling alright. You do realize that you just told us that you asked Archie to find a dead man?" Leo's question was not as rhetorical as he would have liked.
"Cole's not dead." Piper dropped the statement like a bomb into the room.
"Piper, we saw him die. We were there. Remember? Vanquishing is usually considered the last word in these things." Paige spoke as though she were reasoning with a child.
"Phoebe brought him back, she used a spell, she did it just a few weeks after we had vanquished him. I've known since the day she did it."
"What!" Paige shrieked, springing to her feet, causing her chair to topple to the floor unnoticed. "When! How! You knew and you didn't tell us?"
"Which question would you like me to answer first?"
"Piper, I don't think this is a good moment for sarcasm," Leo admonished sternly. " This is serious."
"I'm sorry. You're right. I was just trying to reduce the tension." Piper sighed.
"That's almost three years, he's been running around loose for three years and you didn't tell us." Paige stared in disbelief at her older sister.
"There wasn't any point in telling you Paige, not then. Even though Phoebe led with her heart she was rational. She knew that she and Cole couldn't be together and she knew why. More than that, she was able to make him see and accept it. Telling you what she had done would only have upset you. You didn't live through so many of the better Cole moments with us. I don't think you would have agreed that even he deserved a chance."
"That doesn't explain why you didn't tell me," Leo's hurt was obvious.
"Leo, we were so busy with our own problems that telling you about something that wasn't proving to be a problem just didn't get much priority. It was less that I felt I had to keep it from you and more that there wasn't any reason you had to know."
" Didn't you even think about the danger to the rest of us if you and Phoebe were wrong, if he came after us?" Paige wasn't ready to let go of this.
"Yes. Phoebe didn't know where he had gone, just his new name. She didn't volunteer that information. But I thought we should know it, just in case. I knew she'd write it down somewhere, so I started nosing around her room until I found it. That's how I knew who to have Archie look for."
"Fine, just fine," Paige said, sounding anything but fine. "So he left us alone. Great, end of story! Why look for him now?"
"Phoebe is lonely, Paige. She needs something to complete her new life and I believe Cole is that something."
"Lonely!" Paige snorted incredulously "In case you haven't noticed, Phoebe isn't exactly a wall flower."
"And in case you never noticed, for all the dating she may do, Phoebe has committed a grand total of once. I don't think that you have to work very hard to figure out to whom."
Leo continued to sit dumbfounded through their exchange. Trying to absorb this new information, uncertain of precisely how he felt.
"Leo?" Piper questioned softly.
He shook his head. "I'm still not sure I understand."
"Leo, if you hadn't found your way back to me, to the boys, when the Elders took your memory; what kind of life do you really believe I would have now? How happy do you think I'd be? Do you honestly think that Cole and Phoebe ever loved one another less than we do? The things that kept them apart aren't an issue any longer. Isn't it their turn?"
When Leo said nothing, Piper glanced from him to Paige and back again. She stood, lifting the file from the table. " I can understand that you both feel a bit betrayed right now. But this isn't the first time that one of us has been less than honest because we thought it was important to another of us. And magic, or not, it probably won't be the last."
"Tomorrow morning I'll be calling Bertram & Associates, Attorneys at Law for an appointment. Then I will be on my way to Los Angeles to see if I've got my sister's man. If not, a cover story won't be a problem; if it is him, I guess we'll all find out if I'm right. I'd like to think that you'll both support this, but I'm doing it, whether I have your support or not." And with that Piper walked out on her stunned family.