A/N: As always, thank you very much for all your considerate reviews. The end of this story is somewhere on the horizon; we still have a couple of chapters to go, but I'm just sending out this message out for those who were wondering. Please review afterwards (you may not get the chance to as my story winds to a close!).

Love's Intervention
Chapter Twenty Two: Ticket

The wind whistled as it blew in gusts in the cold winter-like atmosphere. Phoebe shivered as the wind penetrated her jacket. Halloween had never been this cold before, she thought to herself as she clutched her arms tightly around herself. She kept her head bent and her eyes on the ground—she was searching for something, and she was looking for it solely by intuition.

Finally, she found it. The rectangle marker in the grassy field of graves. PAIGE MATTHEWS 1976-1994. BELOVED DAUGHTER AND FRIEND.

"They forgot something, Paige," Phoebe murmured. "Beloved sister. You're all of this and more."

Phoebe took a deep breath before continuing. "Paige—of all of us, you had the strangest relationship with Cole. Piper and Cole was like the best friend and the boyfriend—the best friend giving advice, wanted or not, that type of thing. For Leo, Cole was the former demon that he at first had only accepted because he had to but later became almost buddies with. And me—well, we all knew…" Phoebe trailed off. "But for you; at some level, you guys understood each other, as outsiders of the family. You were the first to notice when Cole became the Source, and you were also the first to realize that I still loved Cole, back when I became a mermaid. You were the arbitrator, but without the bias—you were, really, the most objective of all of us, because you hadn't become attached to Cole but was connected to him at the same time. Which is why," Phoebe said, not even noticing the cold anymore, "I think you know why I have to do this."

Phoebe knelt down and gently touched the tombstone. "I know that sometimes you, even now in this point in our relationship, feel left out, even as you are trying to make a life of your own for yourself. Just remember that I love you, and that I would never put your safety or anyone else's safety above my desires. It's not going to happen again, and it won't." Phoebe closed her eyes for a second before standing up again and squaring her shoulders.

She hurried away.

Phoebe held on to her bad strap tightly as she stood nervously in the elevator, staring at the floor ticker. Fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen…she exhaled noisily and took a step backwards, grasping the bar behind her for support.

She had tried his office first. People stared openly at her as she had walked self-consciously up to Julie, who had answered Phoebe's inquires with downright contempt. Julie had told her that he was working at his apartment and was given explicit instructions to not let anyone disturb him. When Phoebe had arrived at the apartment building, the doorman had given her similar remarks, but she had somehow wheedled her way into getting in. It helped that in the real world, the big but loving man was rather affectionate of her in a friendly sort of way. She even convinced him not to inform Cole of her presence.

Thirty three thirty four thirty five thirty six…the elevator slowed. Thirty eight thirty nine forty, forty one. Ding. The elevator doors slid open.

As she did on her second date with Cole just a few days before, Phoebe stared from her place in the elevator at the man who was sitting with his back toward her, a pile of papers in front of him. "Phil, I told you, I'm—" he spun around and caught his breath when he saw someone entirely different from his office friend.

"Hi," Phoebe said tentatively as she stepped out of the elevator and into the apartment.

"Hi," Cole responded, suddenly curt, as he stood. "Phoebe, what are you doing here?"

"I thought we could talk," she replied as she almost shyly crossed the threshold.

"Is there anything to talk about?" Cole responded, more antagonistically than she had expected. "I understand what you did when you broke up with me the day before, you don't have to explain it to me." He walked a few steps away from her and halfway turned his back on her.

"Cole, I—" she stopped, unsure of what to say. Why was he being so cold toward her? "We—look, if you don't want to talk, can you at least listen?" She took his lack of response as an affirmative, but was still unnerved by his aloofness. "I know I've probably—confused you with a lot of things over these past few days. I've been really confused myself. And I know it seems as though I'm not telling you everything, but—"

"Tell me everything? That's funny, Phoebe," Cole drawled sarcastically as he turned around to face her. "How about the fact that you have someone else?" He ignored her perplexed expression. "I should've been suspicious when I heard you saying his name when you were asleep. I saw you and Leo outside of Johann's Jewelry, OK? So don't go giving me this bullshit about you being confused."

"Leo? But that was Kevin," Phoebe replied, her eyes widening as she understood his implications. "No, Cole, Kevin is Ames' boyfriend. You know, Ames, the girl that you met on our first date? I was helping him pick out an engagement ring so that he could propose to her. And I already told you, Leo's in love with my sist—with someone I consider my sister." Phoebe felt her anger rise even as she again caught herself from making a mistake.

"Yeah, OK, if you say so," Cole muttered, somewhat mollified by her response but still unyielding.

"No, Cole—" Phoebe stopped again and sighed. This wasn't going the way she wanted it to go at all. "It's just that I've just gotten out of a serious relationship, and before that I was in an even more serious relationship, one with a man that I deeply, deeply loved. But he also hurt me, hurt me beyond comprehension, so much so that I began to doubt if I could ever love again. And I thought my last relationship would be the ticket, except it wasn't. Not at all." She was staring at him with such intensity that Cole couldn't help but look back.

"So what am I?" Cole said, for some reason feeling resentment toward the petite figure standing in front of him. "Try number three? 'Maybe this one's the ticket, too!'" he mocked, then immediately wished he hadn't when Phoebe froze up and shakily turned away. "No, wait, Phoebe, I didn't mean it." He took several steps toward her. "I'm sorry. Please, continue."

Phoebe smiled weakly. "Technically," she said, "this is the fourth try. But—"

"But what?" Cole interrupted, suddenly nervous.

Phoebe smiled a bit wider. "But nothing," she said. She closed the distance between them and touched his cheek. He covered her hand with his. "Cole, I love you."

He gulped. "Are you sure?" he replied. He saw her hurt expression. "I don't think I would be able to stand it if you aren't."

"You can't tell me what to feel," Phoebe teased lightly, mimicking the words he had said before she had fled his office two days ago. She withdrew her hand, causing Cole to feel a sharp pang in his heart. His spirits were lifted, however, when she immediately took both of his hands in hers.

"I know I've hurt you," she said seriously. "I know that now. And I've been hurt by—well, I've been hurt a lot too. But—" she continued, even though she knew that this Cole didn't know what she was talking about "—I want us to try. It's just up to you now whether you want to or not."

Cole stared into Phoebe big brown eyes and sighed. "You're kidding, right?" he replied as he smiled and pulled her toward him into a kiss neither of them could or wanted to stop.

Nancy Thatcher slowly counted out the pills from various containers. She counted out two large blue pills, four small powdery pink pills, and one red-and-yellow pill. She poured these pills into a small cup, filled a large glass with water, and set both items on a tray.

"Dr. Wyatt?" Nancy called out. "It's time for your medicine."

Nancy preferred calling him by the name of his profession. It was the name he was most familiar with, having been a doctor for nearly half a century, and it was the name he was most likely to respond to as well.

She had heard stories from one or two of her friends who used to be patients of Dr. Wyatt. A wonderful, honest doctor, they had told her enthusiastically—and Nancy, skeptic she was even as a nurse herself, did not take their word for it until she became the caretaker of this World War II veteran herself. It was a pity, Nancy thought to herself sometimes. He was such a caring man, even in his bursts of deliriousness, and yet he never had much of a family to call his own. He had told her about an old love of his—Lillian, was that the name?—a woman that he had returned to after his return from the war, only to have them go their separate ways a few years later. From then on, Nancy assumed, he lived a quiet bachelor life, a man shy with women and with no living relatives.

Nancy walked through the hall of the house. "Dr. Wyatt?" she called. She went to the living room, only to find it abandoned. She frowned but nevertheless headed for the ground floor bedroom. "Dr. Wyatt?" she called again. "It's Nancy. Dr.—" she gasped as she walked into the room to see him sprawled out on the floor next to the bed.

She flew into the CPR mode, hurryingly setting down the tray even as she checked his surroundings. Nothing was sticking out at an odd angle, ruling out the possibility of him tripping and falling. Nancy ran to him, crouched down, and patted him urgently on the shoulders. Interestingly enough, he was flat on his back, almost as if he had laid himself down. "Dr. Wyatt? Dr. Wyatt? Can you hear me? Dr.—Leo? Leo?" she yelled out in an increasingly louder voice.

She checked his pulse and found nothing. She hurried to call 911 and took out the defilabrator, but even as she talked to the operator over the line, her voice had a certain flat quality to it. She knew he was dead.

In the parallel world, Cole sleepily opened his eyes and glanced over at his nightstand. 5:49. God, it was awfully early, wasn't it? He grunted and was about to close his eyes again when his brain registered the two little letters next to the time. PM. It was 5:49 PM.

5:49 PM? What was he doing in bed at such an hour?

He looked over at the crumpled, empty space next to him.

Phoebe.

Cole scrambled out of bed, his mind only blankly registering to put some clothes before he ran out of his bedroom and into the living room, frantic. She left him, didn't she? He knew it was too good to be true—that she'd go back to him. He'd been such a fool to believe that she felt the same way that he did.

His gaze fell on the balcony and felt a huge surge of relief pass through his body. She was still there, staring out at the city. Cole smiled as he saw that she was wearing his dark blue button-down shirt, a pair of his boxers peeking out from right underneath the edges of the shirt. He simply stood there, admiring her, then silently walked up to her to put his arms securely around her waist.

Phoebe jumped slightly at his touch, but immediately melted into his strong chest as she leaned against him. "Good evening," she murmured.

"Good evening," Cole whispered back. "Why are you here and not in that warm comfortable bed with me?" he asked, nuzzling her ear.

"Wanted some fresh air," she replied as she put her hands over his and gazed out at the rapidly darkening sky. "Just wanted to think for a bit, you know?"

"This is a good thinking place," Cole admitted. "I stand out here when I have some particularly hard problems with my cases. My balcony is very good for decision-making." He smiled softly as Phoebe murmured an assent. He placed a kiss on the top of her head, holding her ever so closer, just relishing the feel of her body pressed up against his. "You complete me, you know that?" he said, stroking her stomach.

"No I don't," Phoebe replied, almost managing to sound casual if she had not tensed up her body. "I love you," she continued sadly, dropping her pretenses, "but I can't give you all that you need. That was our—that's a pitfall that we have to avoid. We have to be careful, you know, if we want to make this work." She sighed and added, sounding teary, "I don't want to lose you."

Cole spun her gently around and looked Phoebe in the eyes. "Do you mean it when you say that you love me?"

"I've already told you so," Phoebe said, a bit amused and a bit irritated. "But yes," she said, her emotions giving way to adoration, "I love you." She smiled as she saw Cole's eyes light up at the words.

"And I love you too. Oh God Phoebe," Cole suddenly exclaimed as he drew her body toward his again. "God knows this was the last thing I was expecting. It's amazing. It truly—" he stopped, as if searching for the right words to express himself. "I mean," he said with a somewhat self-conscious tone, "I was the last one people would ever expect to just—fall head over heels, to find the 'one' they're are always talking about. I never cared for any of that, and now it's like I can barely stand without being next to you. Phoebe, I sound like a bad pop song." He stroked her hair and breathed in the flowery scent of her shampoo. "It's happened so fast I can barely think, I can barely—just—I mean, it defies all logic, the possibility to love someone so quickly. And I do love you," he asserted, "but I can't say that I can wrap the idea around my head completely. Who knew?"

"Not me, that's for sure," Phoebe replied, laughing. She found it slightly amusing that Cole was exclaiming over the quickness of their love. Of course, it was only she who knew that they were married once—but still, she remembered was it was like as fell in love with him for the first time. "I never knew love," she continued, putting her hands on Cole's bare chest. "Looked for it, that's for sure, looked a great deal of places—but I never really expected to find it."

There was a beat of contemplative silence. "You're quite the soldier, aren't you?" Cole said softly, cupping his hand on her cheek. She looked shyly at him and said nothing. "You've been through a lot. I know I can't take everything away, but—" he planted another kiss on her forehead. "I will always be there for you, no matter what happens."

Phoebe smiled a bit sadly at his promise. So like Cole…to promise her the stars, the moon, and a lifetime of forever, and to mean every word as well. In some ways, he was a dreamer as much as she was. Even such a pledge Cole could not keep—the one Phoebe had needed the most, more than trips to France and fairytale romance. She reached up and gave him a light kiss, then leaned in and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

And as she sighed, she was thrown violently into a premonition.