Phoebe's birthday dawned a bright clear day. It was perfect for the barbecue and small party that had been planned to celebrate. Phoebe had breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief that they had foregone the effort of a surprise party. Darryl and Sheila were coming and bringing the kids, Archie had been invited and even Dad would be there this year. Family and friends, that's about as good as it gets was all she could think as she got dressed.
Even a small party proved a bit chaotic with the children running around in their excitement. Phoebe greeted everyone with hugs and smiles when they arrived and settled in to visit with Sheila and keep an eye on the youngest party guests.
Leo and Victor fought a mock duel for control of the grill, which successfully ruined Archie's quiet refuge from the family hijinks. But he took it in good spirit, grabbing his drink and heading for a lawn chair with a laugh.
"At least it's happy chaos," he told Paige good-naturedly.
Piper had commandeered Darryl, with a laughing apology to Sheila, to help bring food from the house. Paige had declared herself mistress of the gift table and seemed determined to set a record for rearranging the gifts. A duty she considered secondary only to keeping curious little ones at bay.
"Hey you, those are my presents you keep handling," Phoebe told her with a laugh.
When Piper showed up to drag Sheila off to set yet another table, Phoebe offered to help.
"No honey, this is your day and you aren't going to work. We'll take care of it."
"But what am I supposed to do, everybody is busy with something," Phoebe asked with a mock pout. "Even Archie got brave enough to rejoin the grill brigade."
"Well missy, just go have a second childhood and play with the kids. We'll be done setting up soon and then you'll have more company than you know what to do with."
It was while she was 'it' in a game of hide and seek that Phoebe first noticed that the adult guests at her party seemed to be meeting in small groups and that there was an awful lot of whispering going on in those meetings. She was beginning to feel a little left out of her own party. By the time she had noticed the third such 'meeting' she was feeling downright paranoid.
"I thought this was my party," she called out" did you all change your mind about inviting me?"
"Oh alright Miss Impatience, gather up those munchkins and you can come help some. We're about ready here, so you can help us get the kids settled to eat and then the rest of us can sit down." Piper gave the others a quick lip zip while Phoebe was busy collecting the children.
Paige settled Chris into his highchair while Sheila, Phoebe and Piper began to fix plates for the kids.
"Oh drat, I forgot the lemonade," Piper exclaimed, "I'll be right back." With that she hurried into the house.
When they had the kids settled, the adults began to group around their table. Everyone had just sat down when Leo looked around the various tables with a puzzled expression on his face.
"Piper, honey aren't we missing a gift?"
Piper glanced at the gift table, " We sure are. I must have left it in the living room."
"Well, if we're going to do cake and presents right after we eat they really should all be out here."
"Okay, birthday girl, you wanted to help, so you get to fetch the missing gift," Piper said with a grin.
Phoebe looked at her for a moment in disbelief, then realizing that her sister was serious she asked, "Where is it?"
"It's near the sofa, you can't miss it sweetie."
Phoebe rose from the table, grumbling under her breath and completely missed the conspiratorial glances exchanged around the table.
" Get ready," Piper whispered "this shouldn't take long."
When Phoebe entered the house, she motioned everyone up and whispered quickly to the children.
Phoebe stomped her way through the kitchen, muttering to herself, "Can't help…help…fetch the gift. Jeez, I'd hate to see what it would be like if it was someone else's birthday." But the sight that greeted her when she entered the living room left her not only speechless, but breathless as well.
Dressed in a beautifully snug pair of jeans and T-shirt and holding a bright red bow was the man who still filled her dreams nightly.
"Happy birthday baby," Cole said softly.
Phoebe launched herself across the room and into his arms with a screech. Cole caught hold of her to keep them both from toppling over with the force of the impact. Phoebe was laughing and crying and raining kisses all over his smiling face. Her hands were everywhere at once as if she needed to reassure herself that he was real.
"Oh Cole," she gasped between kisses.
"Easy Love, just breathe, just breathe okay," Cole whispered against her lips.
"How?" She finally managed, still clinging fiercely to Cole.
Cole nodded toward the doorway with a smile. Phoebe turned her tear streaked, smiling face in that direction and was greeted by the sight of her dearest friends and family.
" Happy birthday sweetie, I couldn't think of anything else you needed," Piper said with a grin.
Wyatt, who'd slipped in unnoticed to see what all the commotion was about, gazed sternly at Cole. " Oh, it's him again," he said, "Mommy, now he's got Auntie Phoebe being all 'citable."
"That's okay honey, it's her birthday, so she's allowed to be a little 'citable."
Turning her attention to Cole and Phoebe again, hand on one hip, Piper said, "Okay you two, you've got five minutes. And keep it PG there are children on the premises. Then we have a birthday party to finish."
As they returned to the table, Piper couldn't help but tease Paige a bit.
"Care to admit that I was right?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
" Okay," she said grudgingly " they do have a certain magic."
"No magi…" Wyatt began.
" Auntie Paige is talking about a different kind of magic dear."