I do not own charmed
An- Hey there! Thanks for the reviews!
Wyatt333- You Rock! I'm so happy your adding my fic to your favourites! Don't worry, nobody dies in this chapter, but Phoebe/Cole fans still won't like it! Mwhahahahaha! And you like Prue? Me too, but my character development of Laura in coming chapters is really fun to write! I sorta gave her my liking for cheese…heh…
Passions- Thank you!
:D Some people who have read my previous Author's Notes will probably have guessed what this chapter contains- but don't worry nobody will die…yet! Please don't be too mad…it had to be done! Enjoy & Please review!
Laur xXx
Chapter6- An age of paranoia
Piper sleepily rolled over and smiled as May's spring sunshine beamed in through her bedroom window. The warm weather seemed to fit her mood perfectly. She looked at Leo, who was sleeping like a baby next to her and her mind filled with glorious memories of the passionate night they had shared. She kissed his forehead and climbed out of bed with a huge smile plastered on her face.
Peeking round the door of Prue's lilac and yellow bedroom, she noticed the bed empty and the little girl curled up amongst her huge pile of cuddly toys. She had her thumb in her mouth and her black hair was sticking out at odd angles. Piper let out a false sigh and pretended not to see her daughter hiding.
"Where could Prue be? Hmm…" Piper began looking under the bed and in the cupboard, but with no luck, she turned to sit in amongst the teddies, "I think I'll just sit with Mr Snuggles and his friends until she comes back…"
"Mommy!" Prue giggled, "No sit on Pwoo!"
"There you are! You little sneak. Were you hiding from Mommy?"
"Nu-uh. I good giwl!" She batted her long eyelashes and looked up at Piper with huge, doe brown, puppy dog eyes.
"You sure are sweetie. Do you want pancakes for breakfast?"
"Mmmm…"
Piper took this as a yes and picked her daughter up from her hiding spot. As she rested Prue on her hip, Piper smiled at the Sleeping Beauty pyjamas Leo had bought the previous day. He had bought mother and daughter a matching pair, much to Piper's disgust. She headed towards the stairs, doing a sort of bouncing dance as she did so. Just as her foot hit the top step, a noise from in the attic startled her back to reality.
Piper placed Prue on her and Leo's bed, where the whitelighter was still sound asleep.
"Stay here sweetie, okay?" Piper said, as she went to investigate the mysterious noise.
It was unusual for demons to attack at seven in the morning, but Piper, as always, was being cautious. She made her way quietly up the wooden staircase and slowly pushed the door open. Thankfully, no demon awaited her…just her very tired looking sister.
"Paige…" She sighed, "Have you been up here all night?"
Paige jerked her head up, startled by Piper's sudden appearance. Her dark locks were hanging roughly around her pale face. Her eyes were weighted by huge bags and she looked as if she hadn't slept in weeks. This was not unusual in the fast five months. Ever since Paige had found out about Decron's Christmas visit, she had been obsessed with vanquishing him. Mark too, had a strong grudge against the demon, but he had given up hope of finding a vanquish a long time ago.
"Mmhmm," Paige grumbled.
"Paige!" Piper scolded, "You know there's nothing in the book. I want Decron dead just as much as you do, but with no information we can't do anything."
"I know there's something we're missing. We have to do something before he manages to hurt the girls." Paige's words were slurred and mumbled. She was obviously in desperate need of sleep.
"Paige, if you don't get some sleep today, you're going to be too tired to look after Laura anyway. And what about Mark? You've become so obsessed with Decron that Mark sees more of Leo and I than he does of you!"
"Okay, okay…" Paige's eyelids drooped as she orbed out, but Piper let out a satisfied whistle and turned back down the stairs.
Phoebe awoke, yet again, to an empty bed. Cole had stayed all night at the office again and her doubts were becoming stronger once more. She sat up and grinned as she placed a hand on her gradually expanding belly. After plodding through to the kitchen in her pink bathrobe, she grabbed the jar of pickled onions from the fridge and dunked a handful into her tub of chocolate spread.
"Mmm," She grumbled "Yum…"
"Okay…if that's what you like…"
Cole sauntered up behind Phoebe and placed his arm around her. Phoebe, however, was so startled by his sudden appearance that she pulled away and turned to glare at him. Much to her surprise, he was wearing a pair of grey boxers and his red slippers. This aroused Phoebe's suspicions even further as she was sure he had not come to bed the previous night.
"I thought you stayed at the office?" She snarled, replacing the word office with underworld in her mind.
"I got home late and you looked so peaceful. I went to sleep in the guest room so I didn't disturb you."
"Oh really?" Phoebe questioned angrily, before storming out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Cole yelled through the door, but no reply came, "Hormones…" He mumbled.
When Paige eventually rolled out of bed at two thirty, she looked a lot better. Though her face was still worn, her lack of sleep was a lot less obvious. After a quick shower, Paige threw on an old pair of flared jeans and a yellow tank top. She tied her hair back in a high ponytail and left a few strands hanging around her face. Today was going to be a day of relaxation.
Piper struggled with the raging woman who was trying to break free of her grip. Currently, Leo was on his way to pick up Phoebe and Mark was with the girls looking through the Book of Shadows. On her return from the grocery store, Piper had nearly ran over the terrified, middle aged woman and after stepping out of the car to check if she was okay, Piper had decided that the woman's problem was definitely demon related. Her eyes were glazed over and she had an odd-looking scorch mark on the back of her pink cardigan.
As Paige reached the top of the basement stairs, she heard a muffled screech from behind the door. Cautiously, she opened it to reveal Piper wrestling with a slightly plump, blonde woman.
"What the hell-"
"We're thinking demonic." Piper stated, seeing the look of confusion spread across her youngest sister's face. However, Piper was revealed to see Paige looking refreshed, "I see that sleep helped then?"
"Yeah," Paige said, "But I see my planned day of relaxation is going down the drain."
"Sorry honey." Piper was still struggling to keep the woman still and the woman kept mumbling things that made no sense at all.
"Lying scumbag…cheating…liar…I hate him…"
"Why don't you just freeze her?" Paige said, more as a statement than a question.
"Oh…" Piper suddenly looked embarrassed and threw up her hands. The kitchen was in silence as the woman froze. "I was gonna do that…"
Somehow, Mark managed to carry the book of Shadows, Prue and Laura down the stairs. He strode through to the kitchen where he saw Piper freeze their innocent with Paige standing next to her. He smiled broadly at the sight of his wife smiling, looking a lot more awake than she had in a long time. Laura's eyes too, lit up at the sight of her mother and before Mark could stop her, the curly haired one year old orbed out.
Phoebe and Leo appeared in the kitchen at the same time as a smaller cloud of orbs landed in Paige's arms.
"Mammy!" Laura squealed in delight "Mammy Mammy Mammy!"
"She's been asking for you all morning." Mark told Paige, still smiling.
"Hey there Pixie. How's my baby girl doing today?"
"Tzeez." Laura said, ignoring her mother's question and pointing at the fridge. "Tzeez"
"Did she just say cheese!" Paige burst into a fit of giggles at Laura's new word. Not many people could claim that cheese was one of the four first words in their vocabulary. Soon everyone but Phoebe, who looked very sullen, was laughing.
"Okay, so I take it that's our innocent? Who's the demon and how do we vanquish him?"
Everyone was slightly shocked at Phoebe's bitterness, but Mark broke the awkward silence by placing the book of Shadows on the kitchen table.
"I'm taking a guess and saying power brokers."
"Power whaties?" Piper asked. (AN- how many people see where this is going?)
"Power Brokers: These demons trade and market demonic powers for financial gain. Brokers sometimes use people to store powers until they find a buyer, so that thieves cannot steal them. A human being possessed of a demonic power will become confused then frightened, paranoid, violent and demonic, and will ultimately die if the power isn't withdrawn." Mark read aloud.
"Makes sense. How do we get the power out of Miss Paranoia and how do we vanquish the suckers?"
One hour later, Mark knocked loudly on the large apartment door. He smiled at Prue, who was standing next to him, holding his hand and at Laura, who was sleeping in her stroller. He had volunteered to take the girls to Cole's house, so they were not in any danger during the vanquish. He was also hoping to convince Cole to look after Laura for the night so he and Paige could have some well-needed alone time. Phoebe had already agreed, but she kept telling Mark not to take the girls to the penthouse when Cole was home alone and Mark was not entirely sure if Phoebe was feeling okay.
After a moment Cole came to the door. His eyes, which appeared to be tearstained, lit up at the sight of the two little girls.
"Unkie Cole!" Prue giggled jumping into Cole's arms.
"Why hello there Prudence! What brings you to this neck of the woods?" Cole's question was directed more towards Mark, but for some reason the ex-demon was avoiding eye contact with his best friend.
"Vanquishes. Can you take the girls for the afternoon?"
"Sure!" Cole said, delighted. "Do you have time for a coffee?"
Mark checked his watch. Since they had managed to catch the earlier bus to the penthouse, he wasn't going to be expected home so soon and plus, he wanted to know what was going on with Phoebe. "Tea would be good." He said, wheeling Laura through the door.
"What is it with you and tea? It's like some sort of witch necessity."
"I guess it is…look Cole? Is everything okay with you and Phoebe?"
Cole jerked his head upwards with a distant expression on his face. He let out a melancholy sigh and placed Prue of he red, suede armchair.
"I have no idea," he said, truthfully, "She's been really odd the past couple of months- ever since she found out she was pregnant. At first I thought it was hormones, but I'm not so sure anymore…"
"Dude…" Mark had never seen Cole so stressed before and was really at a lack of words. "Do you want me to get Paige to speak to her?"
"No!" Cole answered too quickly. "I don't want anyone else to get involved. Phoebe just doesn't trust me anymore and…" He swallowed hard, as if dreading what he was going to say next, "and maybe… if it weren't for the baby, I'd be questioning our relationship…"
"Auntie Fee!" Prue squealed, completely oblivious to the seriousness of what Cole had just said.
"What do you mean?" Mark questioned, hushing Prue with a motion of his hand.
"I mean…look; you and Paige, Piper and Leo, you are destined to be together. I was just thinking that Phoebe and I weren't meant to be."
"But, you're having a baby together?"
"That's what makes it so complicated!" Cole's raised tone of voice caused Laura to stir and as her tears flooded out, so did Cole's.
"Cole." Mark said in an attempt to calm his friend down, "Do you still love her?"
"Yes." Cole replied, taking a deep breath. "I think so."
"There you are then. If you still love her then there must be something behind your relationship. Just talk to her. She must think something bad is going on to make her get like this. There will be a solution to your problem- god I'm beginning to sound like a whitelighter- don't tell Leo I said that…"
Cole smiled gratefully at Mark, who was now doing the wiggle with Laura. The nauctater was right: there had to be a solution to whatever problem he and Phoebe were having. He would ask her tonight.
-------------------------------------------
Phoebe grumpily picked up the remainders of Paige and Mark's ongoing Decron research and tossed it into a cardboard box. Paige was downstairs brewing a potion to free their innocent of the power broker's influence and Piper was on innocent watch in the living room. Leo had orbed up to the elders to explain the situation and Phoebe had decided to do something productive. This was not because she wanted to be helpful, but because she needed to get her mind off Cole.
---------------------------
In her pocket resided the Power Broker vanquishing potion and Phoebe could not understand why they had to wait for Mark to return. Glancing at the Book of Shadows, she noticed it only required the potion so waiting for a fourth witch was pointless.
May as well just do it myself." She told her unborn child, "It's not like Mark will make a difference! And that way we can keep our appointment with Ava."
Phoebe pushed the book of shadows to one side and pulled the potion out of her back pocket. "Okay baby girl, let's do some spell casting." She said with a smile. Even after six years, a lone vanquish got her blood pumping and gave her a huge adrenaline rush. On the spot, she came up with a spell and recited it quietly. "You steal other powers, keep me waiting for hours, come here to me, so I can vanquish thee…okay, that sucked!"
Much to Phoebe's shock, a swirl of light appeared in front of her to reveal a tall, blonde man wearing a long cloak, which reminded Phoebe of Harry Potter's school uniform. He laughed at her and raised his hand, but Phoebe, who had gotten quite used to her baby's power, was faster. She threw a fireball straight at the power broker's mid section and sent him flying across the dusty old room.
"God, that was too easy!" She said as she threw the potion at her opponent and he disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke.
Phoebe's victory dance was interrupted by a sinister laugh as she turned to face another four power brokers. Obviously, her spell had not been specific enough and she had summoned an entire group.
"Stupid witch!" One sneered. "Though she may come in quite useful…"
Phoebe was in such a state of shock that she did not think to summon another fireball to throw at the other power brokers. She let out a piercing scream as three balls of light came hurtling towards her midsection, in fear that her baby would be injured. As they impacted with her she fell to the floor, unconscious, but other than this was unharmed.
Piper ran up the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. She did not care that she had left the innocent alone in the house. Paige was not far behind her, the worry etched in her face. When they reached the attic, however, they were utterly bewildered as to why there sister had screamed.
"What happened?" Piper demanded, as she looked at Phoebe who was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. "We heard a scream."
Phoebe looked around the attic and focused her eyes on her sisters, trying hard to remember how she had gotten onto the floor in the first place. She brushed her long, brown hair off her face and removed her glasses, trying to ignore the feeling that it had something to do with Cole. Last thing she knew, she had vanquished the power broker.
"I vanquished the demon." Phoebe said uncertainly, "He must have knocked me over."
"You vanquished him? Alone?" Piper was quite angry at her sister's naivety, but was also relieved to find nothing bad had happened.
"Well all I needed was the potion, so it seemed pointless to wait for Mark. I'm sorry okay? Now can someone orb me home? I need to lie down."
Piper and Paige exchanged curious glances. Phoebe seemed a little edgy and each of her sisters were concerned. However, Paige grabbed Phoebe's outstretched hand and the two disappeared in a swirl of blue orbs leaving Piper alone. She looked at the spot where Phoebe had been sitting and noticed the fresh scorch mark on the ground. She wrinkled her nose in confusion; if the power broker had knocked Phoebe to the ground, why had she landed in the exact spot as the demon had been vanquished in. Something was not right.
When Paige and Phoebe appeared in the penthouse, the middle sister swayed a little and felt her head spin. Paige grabbed her arm to steady her and gave her a once over.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked.
"I'm fine!" Phoebe assured her, but was lying through her teeth, "Just a little pregnancy sickness."
"If you're sure…I'm gonna tell Cole we're here and take the girls home, 'kay?"
"No!" Phoebe yelled, a little too quickly. She filled with worry at the thought of her two nieces being left with Cole and dashed towards the living room.
"Phoebe? What the hell's gotten into you?"
Paige entered the living room in time to see her older sister rip Laura from Cole's arms. The one year old burst into tears, but they soon subsided when she saw her mother. As a small cloud of orbs brought Paige her daughter, she watched curiously at what Phoebe was doing.
Phoebe stood defensively in front of Prue and turned to Cole with a look of venom in her eyes. "Stay away from them!" She spat and Cole looked utterly shocked.
"Phoebe? What the hell-" He asked, attempting to put a hand on her shoulder.
"Stay away from me!"
"What's gotten into her?" Cole asked Paige.
"I have absolutely no idea. Prue, c'mere."
Prue obliged and had soon joined Laura in the arms of the youngest charmed one. Paige and Cole looked from each other to Phoebe who had backed herself into a corner as if defending herself from a predator. Cole had no idea what to do. His girlfriend was terrified of him and had now formed a fireball in her hands. Paige seemed to register something in her head and made a move towards her sister, but was stopped by a fireball. Fortunately, Laura froze it before it came into contact with anyone.
"You're working with him!" Phoebe yelled, "He's taken over your mind Paige! Fight it! Demonic bastard!"
"Phoebe, listen to me. We are not evil. I think the power broker hit you okay? Just calm down and take deep breaths." As Phoebe lowered her hand and slid down the wall, Paige turned her attention to Cole, "I'm gonna take the girls back home and get some of the potion to help her. It'd probably be best for you to go into the bedroom. I'll be right back."
Paige arrived in the Manor at the same time as Leo, who had the innocent unconscious in his arms. She did not bother to question him about why the innocent was unconscious and dashed towards the solarium where she placed the two babies in the playpen.
"Piper?" She yelled. "We have a serious problem!"
"What?" Piper asked as she came hurrying towards the kitchen. She noticed Paige's hands shaking as she poured the freshly brewed potion into four separate vials and continued, "Are the girls okay?"
"Yes, but Phoebe? She was hit by the power broker!"
"Oh my god! Leo?"
"I heard. Leave me one of the vials for Cindy and go! I'll figure out what to do with her."
"Got it!"
Paige instinctively orbed herself and Piper into Cole's room so they could give him a vial. However, they were not met with a scene they had expected. Cole lay in the corner with what appeared to be third degree burns all over his chest and face and they could hear furious screams coming from the living room.
"That does not look like damage from a fireball!" Paige gasped before looking to the skies, "Sam, I need help!"
"What?" Sam asked urgently as he materialized.
"Heal Cole! I'll explain later!"
Piper and Paige ran into the living room where Phoebe was shooting acid from her fingertips at everything in sight.
"Oh my god!" Piper gasped, causing Phoebe to spin around and face them.
"Piper? He's gotten you too hasn't he? But he's paid the price for being evil. And since you helped him, you will too!"
Acid flew towards the sisters, but Piper froze the room before it hit them. Unfortunately, Phoebe was still a witch and did not freeze. She came towards her sisters with an evil glint in her eye and raised her hand to punch Piper. Paige, luckily, was a lot faster and Phoebe fell to the floor barely conscious.
"Pour the potion down her throat," Piper instructed.
"Sorry Phoebs." Paige poured the entire contents of the vial down her sister's throat and watched as Phoebe began to stir and three balls of white light came floating out of her.
Phoebe grimaced against the bright light of her apartment before noticing Paige and Piper hovering above her. She sat up groggily and tried very hard to remember why she was there. Unfortunately, not one single memory of the past day came to her, but she was sure something terrible had happened.
"Are you okay?" Piper asked.
"Um…yeah I guess. What are you guys doing here? Oh my god! What happened? Was there a demon?"
"Uh, not quite sweetie!" Paige said, helping Phoebe to her feet. "It was you…"
"Me? But how could I…oh my god!" Suddenly, the memory of Mark reading the entry from the book of shadows came flooding into her mind. They had been going to vanquish power brokers. A human being possessed of a demonic power will become confused then frightened, paranoid, violent and demonic. "Power brokers…"
As the information registered in Phoebe's mind she turned to come face to face with a very sullen looking Cole. His shirt was ripped and his eyes were tearstained.
"Oh my god! Honey, I am so sorry! The power bro-"
"Phoebe, I know what happened. It does not change what you said."
"What do you mean?" Phoebe's voice sounded timid and she filled with fear of what Cole was about to say.
"I have been around long enough to know how power brokers work. They pick up on any doubts you have and magnify them." Cole's tone of voice was almost frightening, but at the same time, it was breaking. "Power broker or not Phoebe: you still think I'm evil!"
"Cole I'm sorry!"
"I don't care! Get out!"
"But-"
"No buts Phoebe! If we can't have trust in our relationship, what can we have?"
"The baby-"
"A lot of children survive with parents who aren't together! Now get out!"
AN- Don't be mad! Their break up is essential to a later part of the plot. (And it DID say on the TV show that they weren't meant to be together so…) Please don't hate me! And if you think I'm too cruel to Phoebe, I promise she will be happy in later chapters! I don't hate her that much…maybe I do, but I'm not as mean as you think! Please review…or I will release my flying monkeys to come and find you!
Laur xXx