Part Two
Piper sleepily entered the kitchen and greeted Phoebe who sat at the table. On autopilot, she headed for the stove and grabbed a bowl to begin making some eggs and bumping into Phoebe, she apologized. And then she shrieked and dropped the bowl onto the counter. Two Phoebes!
"Uh, Piper, I can explain," both Phoebes simultaneously said.
Piper closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. When she opened them, she still found identical Phoebes nervously watching her. "I'm listening," she warily announced.
"It's nothing to worry about," Phoebe II assured Piper as she patted her older sister's arm. "It's a harmless spell that'll play out and then I'll be back together again."
Phoebe got up from the table and approached her older sister, "It's okay, Piper, really. It's not personal gain, personal growth, maybe, but that's not a bad thing, is it?"
"I don't know…"
"I created a spell to find some answers that I knew were lying within me." Phoebe smiled sheepishly, "I just didn't expect my subconscious to split off into another real me."
Piper whacked the sister closest to her, "You'd think after eight years you'd've learned that spells never work the way you expect! What kind of answers did you need that Paige or I couldn't give you?"
Phoebe's smile faded instantly, "I need to sort through what happened with Dex."
Piper's tone softened, "I thought you had, Pheebs. I thought you decided that you didn't want to have your little girl without finding love first. And didn't you decide not three days ago that you believed in your premonitions again but that it was still a good idea to take a break from men for a while and concentrate on simply being Phoebe?"
"But the future me in my newest vision only assured me that my little girl will exist. She didn't say with who and, Piper, you know love never sticks with me," Phoebe II somberly commented, "and, if I really want to find love, it's time I acknowledged why or that premonition may never come true."
Piper turned to face her sister's double, "I know it's not easy when a relationship fails but you didn't do anything wrong with Dex and there's no reason to think that the right guy isn't still waiting for you out there. Give it time."
"I've been in denial," Phoebe II maintained. "For too long I've denied what's happened and it's the reason why I've never truly let anyone else in. I have to face the truth or I'll never be whole."
"What are you talking about?" Piper sighed in confusion. "You've had so many intense relationships because you let love in. Why do you think it hurt so much when they ended? You're not denying anything."
Phoebe, who had been intently watching her other self, her subconscious-come-to-life, suddenly stepped back, "You're wrong. This isn't about him."
"Isn't it?" Phoebe II questioned. "Isn't he the real reason you waited so long to tell Jason the truth about who you were? Isn't he the real reason you were afraid to start anything with Dex? Isn't he the real reason you were so attracted to Drake?"
"That isn't fair!" Phoebe snapped. "I saw Drake for who he was and I lov-- You're wrong! And I don't have to stand here and listen to you dredge up the past for no reason!"
"Maybe you do," Piper quietly suggested as she focused on her "original" sister. "You wanted answers from within yourself, Pheebs, and now you're getting them. This is you talking and you have to listen even if you don't want to hear or the spell will never play out."
"Piper…" Phoebe did not like the direction where her sister seemed to be going.
"Sweetie, isn't it the slightest bit possible that you never truly got over Cole?"
"Great," Phoebe muttered, "now you're on her side."
"Of course I'm on her side because she's you and I'm always on your side," Piper patiently insisted. "I know it hurts for you to think about Cole but it's time to deal with the pain you've buried."
"I haven't buried anything." Phoebe folded her arms across her chest in annoyance. "And I'm not in pain anymore over him."
"If that were true then she," Piper indicated to Phoebe II, "wouldn't be standing here right now. She's your mind, Phoebe, your heart. And maybe once you start listening to yourself you'll be able to find love again, real love, a love that will last."
"Jason and Drake were real and I think I'd better get dressed," Phoebe simply said as she turned and left the room.
Piper stared at the sister still left in the room, "I'm not sure we should ever allow you near the Book again."
"Come on, Piper," Phoebe II whined, "I didn't do anything wrong."
"I know," Piper conceded with a sigh, "but I hate seeing you hurt and I know it still hurts to really talk about Cole."
Phoebe II gazed at her older sister and took a chance as she quietly asked, "Is that why you never told us that he was the 'old friend' who helped you in limbo?"
Piper gasped, "How'd you know?"
"Please," Phoebe II rolled her eyes, "the incident had Cole written all over it. Besides, if it'd been anyone else, you'd've told us who it was instead of keeping it secret."
"Why didn't you say anything to me?"
Phoebe II shrugged, "I couldn't. I was in denial…I'm only a subconscious, Piper, it's not like I had control. She buries anything that has to do with Cole."
"She's talked about him," Piper acknowledged, "every now and then. It's like she's no longer afraid to say his name."
"It's a step forward," Phoebe II nodded, "but it's not enough, not yet anyway."
Piper stared at her sister, "This's so strange to talk to you as if you're two different people when you're not."
"Strange for me too and I'm a bit worried at how different it might be when we're back together again."
Piper eyed her, "Anything else you'd like to confess seeing as you're now able to do so on your own?"
"Hey, Piper?"
Phoebe II grinned when they'd heard Paige, "Saved by the bell."
"Hey, Piper, what's wrong with Phoebe?" Paige asked as she entered the kitchen. She did a double-take when she saw Phoebe standing next to Piper, "Uh, Pheebs, I just left you in the hallway, you suddenly learn to orb?"
"Why don't you fill her in," Phoebe II suggested to her older sister, "while I go talk to myself…Literally."
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