Part Five

Six Months Later…

"Hey you," Piper greeted as she practically sat on her younger sister. "Why aren't you playing with them?"

Phoebe looked across the sunroom at her husband and Chris as she inched over on the wicker sofa to make room for her sister. The youngster had just gleefully knocked down the tower he'd so carefully built and she smiled with amusement.

"Uncle Coop," Wyatt called out from his side of the room, "look!" He pointed excitedly to his own tower of blocks.

"Good job, Wyatt, now make it rise off the floor with your power."

"Wyatt, now is not the time for practicing magic. Coop, stop encouraging him," Piper warned.

"He needs to be encouraged," Phoebe piped up.

"That's not what I mean and you know it," Piper chastised. "There's a time and a place for everything."

Turning to Wyatt, he chuckled, "Next time, kiddo, right now, Mom has spoken."

Piper watched Wyatt pout for a moment before returning to his tower and she had to admit to her sister, "Coop really is great with the boys." She watched Chris scramble over Coop in an effort to get to the train engine lying on the floor behind Coop and she cautiously commented, "He seems better now, don't you think?"

"Chris?"

"Coop." She eyed her younger sister, "So do you, for that matter."

"I don't understand," Phoebe lied.

"Phoebe," Piper drew out each syllable. "I'm your older sister and I know you. Something happened six months ago when Coop was attacked, something that changed you both." Phoebe merely shrugged so Piper persisted, "What happened, sweetie? I know that Coop's the first Cupid to have ever survived a leech attack but he disappeared on you for four weeks, popping in only that one night when you'd been hurt. And then when he finally came back for good, it was like he was a different person."

"The leech left behind a lot of negative emotions," Phoebe reminded her. "Someone like Coop wasn't used to handling it and he needed time to adjust."

"It was more than that," Piper sighed. "I understood the sharp retorts and sniping insults because that wasn't really Coop talking. But he even kept his distance from the boys and --"

"He didn't want to scare them," Phoebe prompted. "They were too young to understand what was going on."

"It was like he was wary and, at times unsure, of us I mean," Piper continued. "Sometimes there'd be flashes of confidence or maybe arrogance but then he'd go silent as if he was hurting because he remembered something awful."

"He'd been through an ordeal," Phoebe conceded, "and it was a rough time for him trying to readjust."

"For you too," Piper pointed out. "You think I didn't notice how quiet you became? Or how your appetite changed? Or how you were almost afraid to go home alone with Coop?"

"I wasn't afraid," Phoebe insisted. "I've never been afraid of my husband."

Piper didn't quite believe her but didn't push, "Well, I was. Even Paige wanted to --"

"Paige was scared too?"

"Don't feel bad, Pheebs," Piper patted her arm, "I'm only telling you now because we've both seen that things have changed for the better, how happy you are now."

"Why didn't you say something back then?" Phoebe wondered.

"Because you didn't," she shrugged. "And I didn't want you to think I was just some high-strung older sister who --"

"You are my high-strung older sister," Phoebe teased.

Piper lightly slapped her sister's arm, "You know what I mean. I didn't want you to think I was making an issue out of nothing."

"Your being worried about me isn't 'nothing'," Phoebe told her.

"But it wasn't necessarily my business," Piper acknowledged. "Coop came so close to dying and who was I to interfere in his recovery? I figured, well, I hoped, you'd come to me if you needed anything."

"Of course I would," Phoebe hugged her sister. "I love you, Piper, and I love the security I feel in knowing that I can come to you for any reason at any time but this," she pulled back, "this was something we needed to deal with alone."

"I know and I understand."

"I do love him," Phoebe murmured as she watched her husband in a losing tickling match to both Wyatt and Chris, "I love him more than I ever thought possible."

"That's how I feel about Leo, y'know," Piper agreed. "Guess that's the way it is between couples who are simply meant to be."

"You really believe that?"

"You bet," Piper nodded emphatically. "You, me, Paige, we've found the men we're meant to spend the rest of our lives with. Together, there's no stopping us."

"I love you," Phoebe hugged her sister. "You're still high-strung but I love you."

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"Then marry me."

Phoebe stiffened in bed for a moment before she rolled over in his arms to face him, "We're already married. Remember our surprise anniversary party that Piper and Paige threw us four months ago?"

Propping himself up on his elbow, he ran his fingers along her bare shoulder, "It was for you and Coop."

"You are Coop," she grinned before sneaking a kiss to his lips.

But his playful mood had disappeared, "Then why do you call me Cole in the privacy of our bedroom?"

Unsure of what had just changed, Phoebe tugged the bed sheet a little higher as she settled back against the headboard, "Because we never told my sisters the truth about what you both did."

"You're still treating us as two separate people," he rebuked.

"I'm not," she denied. "Sure, there're times when I can tell if you're behaving more like one than the other but you know why I call you Cole when we're here." He was silent and she sighed in frustration before she proceeded to explain, "For obvious reasons, you're Coop to the rest of the world so this's the only way I can make sure you know I haven't forgotten who you are." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "That I've accepted who you are."

"And I appreciate that," he honestly replied as he brushed his fingertips along her cheek, "I do. But it's not ab--"

"You want to tell them," she suddenly accused.

"Don't you think they deserve to know the truth?" he countered.

"We've been over this, Cole," she griped. "We've had such a rough time dealing with our own issues and've barely had time to really enjoy being together. How long did it take after the leech attack 'til we made love for the first time? I'll tell you, it was five months, Cole."

"We had to wait for the right moment," he admitted.

"That's right," she agreed, "we needed time, even if it meant not celebrating our wedding anniversary the way we'd planned months before the leech attack. We still needed time to learn about each other, to trust each other. And, last month, last month when it suddenly felt so right, it was --"

"Magical," he completed for her with a smile.

She returned a smile that quickly faded, "But we're still learning and I don't want to ruin it all now by dredging up the past with Piper and Paige."

He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips for a light kiss. "Your sisters are both happily married so give them some credit, Phoebe, for letting you do what's best for you and your marriage."

"That isn't it," she claimed as she yanked her hand free.

"Why are you still so afraid?" He slammed the pillow and sat up, "No, don't deny it. We're connected, Phoebe, and I can feel your fear. But nothing will happen, not if we stand together…or is that the problem? Are you ashamed of your love for Cole? Are you sorry Coop ever proposed the merging of souls? That's it, isn't it, you're --"

"How dare you!" She scrambled off the bed, angrily tugging the sheet around her, "I love Coop with all my heart, and I love Cole as much now as I did six years ago, if not more, and I can't believe you'd propose to me if you didn't believe that! You're a Cupid, for God's sake!"

"That doesn't mean I'm not also a man who's lost confidence!" he blurted out.

"What's that mean?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "You're one of the most confident, most centered, people I know!"

"It means," he tried to calm his tone, "that both Coop and Cole took a huge risk for you. Neither one of us knew what the result would be or how hard the adjustment would be not to mention how hard it would be to find our way back to you. Don't you think I still have doubts whether we made the right choice?"

Phoebe froze in her spot and gaped at him in surprise, "Of course you did. I'd've died without you."

"That's where Coop and Cole disagreed," he revealed with a shrug. "Coop believed that but Cole had faith in you. He believed you were the strongest woman he knew and that you would survive even losing Coop."

"Oh, baby," Phoebe uttered as she crawled back on the bed to sit next to him, "the only thing that'd've happened would've been that I end up in limbo…Guess I would've ended up with Cole anyway, huh." She reached for his hand and squeezed it as she brought it to her heart, "You made the right choice, for me, for you, for us. I love you, both of you. In the past six months we've grown so much, Cole. We've grown stronger individually but, even more important, we've grown stronger together. The way you complete me, the way we're sometimes so in sync it's like we're one person, it's the most --"

"What?" He leaned forward in concern when she'd jerked back slightly. "A premonition?"

"No," she suddenly smiled, "just a little flashback to when Wyatt and Chris came from the future and let it slip that I married you, Coop." She chuckled, "I think that's what they said, that we were so close and so in sync, we were almost like one. Funny how the future works out after all…"

"Some things are just meant to be," he agreed, letting his fingers trail up and down her arm.

"Sure would've been nice if that apple peel came with instructions," she complained.

He barked out a laugh and shook his head as he gave her arm a gentle squeeze, "I love you, Phoebe."

"I know and I know you know that I know which's why you know that I would be proud to become your wife...again."

"I think I almost understood that."

"Then understand this, again and again and again I would marry you both in a heartbeat."

"Then come here, witch," he demanded as he grabbed her and pulled her on top of him, "and prove it."

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