A healing shock

Manor. Afternoon.

Piper was bored. She wasn't in the mood to work, wasn't in the mood to cook, wasn't in the mood for shopping. Shopping was no fun at all when you couldn't wear the new clothes for the next months. Cooking sucked when no one was around to eat the meal. The hormonal mood swings of her pregnancy drove her mad. She had eaten a whole box of cereal without any milk. Now she couldn't drink enough water to solve the node in her stomach. Pregnancy really sucked sometimes.

Leo hadn't shown up again. Coward. He had been to one to knock her up and now he hadn't the guts to keep her company. She was really mad at him. Phoebe was at work and Paige was on her mission to become the new potions master in the house, polluting the basement with her ungodly potions. Piper didn't care about that at the moment. She was convinced she could take on Paige anytime.

She prowled about the manor aimlessly. Picking at the curtains and rearranging the pillows for the thousandth time. She was stuck in the house all alone. No. She remembered abruptly and glanced at the staircase. Cole was still in the attic. And he had nothing to do either. An expectant smile crossed Piper's face. Eating wasn't the only craving pregnancy had inflicted on her. She turned on her heel and ascended the stairs to the attic.

"Hey, who allowed you to get dressed?" Piper teased as she entered the attic.

Cole sat up. He had been staring on the ceiling. "Your husband was so kind", he smirked towards Piper.

"Did you tell him about us?" Piper asked tentatively, the threat evident in her voice. She strolled around the attic and looked out of the window.

"No", Cole lied, "I figured he wouldn't be so nice to me than". He followed her moves with his eyes.

"Good boy", Piper smiled lasciviously. She sat down next to him and put her hand on his knee, letting it wander up the inside of his leg.

"I was thinking about repeat performance," she proposed, "the way you took part in it, I figured you liked it too."

"Not really", Cole said noncommittal, bending away from Piper as far as possible.

"I'm not asking you, you know," Piper said angrily, "I can make you."

She wasn't in the mood for his games. She wanted some distraction from the boredom. She reached for a bottle with yellowish fluid next to the couch.

"Didn't Paige use it?" She asked surprised.

"No", Cole said, "she decided we didn't fit."

He shrugged his shoulders, "But she told me it is even more effective if both take it. She laughed at you for not knowing this as the potions master." He counted on Piper's pride to bring her around and the always existing rivalry between siblings.

"Bitch," Piper swore, "keeping the fun to herself."

She opened the bottle and looked at the content in pleasant anticipation. Cole held his breath. Piper downed half of the bottle without a second thought. Then she reached for Cole, grabbed his head and froze.

Her eyes grew wide, almost popping out of her head. Her mouth fell open. Her hand began to tremble heftily. With a small shriek she let go of Cole like she had touched fire. She looked at the bottle in her hand and then back at Cole. Her face showed total shock, it was drained of all color. She let the bottle fall to the ground and buried her face in her hands.

"Oh my god," she aspirated repeatedly," oh my god, oh god, oh god"

Cole just sat there and watched her. He knew it would be a blow for Piper when she realized what they had done.

Piper didn't dare to look at Cole again. Abruptly she started up and fled the attic like the Source himself was after her, slamming the door behind her.

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Troubled Marriage

Piper came back from the shower, a towel wrapped around her. She closed the door to her bedroom silently after her. When she looked up she found Leo sitting on their bed, looking at her. The expression on his face was unreadable. Piper didn't know how to act towards her husband. She wasn't sure if he knew about what had happened between her and Cole.

While under the shower she figured out that something magical must have happened to her. Probably also to her sisters. Piper rubbed her body fervently to get Cole's scent off her. Unfortunately the bruises on her hips wouldn't go away as easily. They were going to remind her for some time what she had done. She was deeply grateful that she was pregnant already. So there was no chance of getting pregnant from him. Thank God! In all her rush to get him she hadn't thought of contraception at all. Piper had hoped to feel less filthy after showering – but it didn't work out. At least she didn't smell of him anymore. She put her damp hair behind her ears and strode forward to her cupboard, rummaging for some clothes to wear.

Leo just watched her. He wasn't sure how to talk about the issue. The easier part was talking about the magic, and not the marital implications, so he decided to start with this. He had to confirm that the potion had worked.

"How do you feel Piper?" Leo asked clearly concerned.

"I feel good Leo," Piper lied without turning around. She slipped on some T-Shirt and Jeans, "why are you asking?"

"And our baby?" Leo feared the potion would have a bad influence on their child.

Piper put her hand on her womb tenderly but shook her head, "I don't feel any different from before, feels like she is ok."

"Good", Leo was relieved, "Are you still mad at me for orbing out earlier?"

Piper turned round. There was no point in postponing a discussion any longer. But maybe she could hide her dirty little secret with Cole from him. A little hope gleamed inside her.

"No Leo. I understand. I blew you up. It was solely my fault. I'm really sorry about that."

She looked worried, "I think there is something magical going on with me, what made me do it. Also Paige and Phoebe are behaving strangely."

"Not to mention that we have a magical prisoner in the attic," she thought to herself.

Piper lent against the cupboard. "Do you know anything about it?" She wasn't ready to disclose the whole extent of the events to Leo, if he didn't know yet.

"Yes," Leo confirmed, "someone put you and your sisters under an evil spell".

Piper nodded, "I had the same suspicion. But how come I'm not under it anymore? At least I think I'm not under it anymore."

She definitely wasn't under the spell Piper realized. No inappropriate desire towards Cole. That definitely meant she got rid of the spell.

"I organized the potion you drank. It wasn't the potion from Paige but a counteragent", Leo said as calmly as he could master.

Piper gasped in horror. So Leo knew. Leo had given the potion to Cole.

"What else do you know?" she whispered busying herself with combing her wet hair and not able to look at him.

Leo exhaled deeply. He was still pissed at Piper for cheating on him, but could he really be when she was influenced by a spell?

"I talked with Cole", he confessed, "about what happened".

Leo didn't tell her that he had actually watched her. It would just drive them in to deeper trouble.

Piper stopped combing her hair and looked at Leo fearful. "I.. Leo..," she was at a loss of words and quickly averted her gaze.

She hadn't found a reason herself yet, why she had had this burning desire for Cole. Now she felt deeply ashamed and filthy because of it. And worse, Leo knew about it too. How could she ever look into his eyes again? Would he stop loving her? A cold fear squeezed her heart. She had vowed to be true to him all her life but still she broke this promise.

Leo knew his wife good enough to recognize her struggling. "Piper, we don't have to talk about this now," he said.

As a husband he wanted to do it right now and shout at her for being unfaithful, but as a White lighter he knew it was more important to free her sisters and get back to the demon who inflicted the spell. The White lighter won over the husband for the moment.

Since Piper didn't seem to join the conversation in the near future, he asked her. "Do you have any idea which demon or sorcerer could have produced the spell?"

Piper just shook her head and whispered a small, "No". She didn't dare to look at him.

"Piper please, get yourself together", Leo encouraged, "we have to free Paige. She has to drink the potion too. Do you have any idea how we can mislead her in doing that? I need your help for doing this."

Hurtfully he recognized that she was deliberately keeping her distance from him.

The duty to help her sisters snapped Piper from her torpidity. "I could prepare some pudding for dinner," she suggested, "Paige loves vanilla pudding. We could put the potion in it."

Leo agreed with her, "That should work. Better to make some pudding for us too –without any potion of course – so she doesn't get suspicious about it"

"What about Phoebe?" Piper asked, "Is she still under the spell?"

"Yes," Leo confirmed, "but I placed a bottle with Cole. I think he can wheedle her into drinking it. But to be on the safe side, please prepare a pudding for Phoebe too."

Piper winced at the mention of Cole's name. Her reaction didn't escape Leo.
He stood up and walked over to Piper giving her a bottle with a yellow liquid. But Piper shied away from him. Leo looked hurt but put the bottle on the drawer.

"Be careful with it", he advised, "we don't have anything left. It was a very complicated potion to brew with many scarce ingredients and it needs some time. Time we don't have."

Piper took the bottle avoiding touching him and turned to the door. She was relieved to have something to do so she hadn't to face Leo anymore. She had to come to terms with herself before she could think about discussing the issue with him.

Leo watched Piper's retreating back, as she left their room. He let her go. He knew she wasn't ready to talk about the incident with Cole. He wasn't sure he was himself. This was going to be a hard trial for their marriage. But no time to brood over it now. He had to go and watch Paige, that she didn't do anything really evil. With a troubled expression on his face Leo orbed out of their room.

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True Desire

Manor. Late Afternoon.

Phoebe had ended work early and sneaked into the attic. She had heard Piper in the shower. Good. So nobody would disturb her. Cole was on the couch starring into the void how it seemed.

"Hi", she smiled impishly at him, "I craved for you again". She gave him a die-away look.

"Phoebe?" Cole asked haltingly. Her return had been fast. He looked at the side where Leo had placed the bottle. It was corked and full.

Cole smiled at her, "I missed you too".

He had to lie to say this. He didn't want to experience loveless gross lust centered sex with her again.

She bent forward to kiss him and he didn't resist. It started hesitantly but quickly turned into a passionate one. How Cole had longed for her kissing him like this again. But this was business. She wasn't herself and he had to control himself. He broke the kiss and turned his head away from her, looking to the ground.

"What..?" Phoebe asked irritated.

"I'm sorry," he said sounding embarrassed, "I'm so depleted. First the demon and than Piper again and you. I've no energy at all."

He sighed miserably, still not looking at her. It was so damn hard for him playing the unwilling while Phoebe was throwing herself at him. But he had to pass. She only wanted him because of this bloody spell. If he got a hold on the creature that had put him in this position it wasn't going to be pleasant for it.

"Piper was here again", Phoebe's temper flared up, "she was not supposed to. She has Leo in good's sake."

Phoebe felt a little jealousy rising inside her. Her sister has gotten much too attached to Cole for her taste. She slapped Cole on the shoulder to get his attention since he continued to avoid her glance.

"Phoebe, it's not like I don't want you", Cole coaxed sitting up, but hanging his head low, just inches from hers, "but you have to understand. I'm just plain human with these handcuffs. No supernatural strength or stamina".

His breath was touching her face and neck. It made her shiver, a cozy feeling running down her back. She wanted to feel him. She wanted him to want her. Now. Not anytime later. Her eyes darted around the attic, her mind racing for a way to get her will. Phoebe had never been a patient person. Finally her glance landed on the bottle next to the couch. She reached out and picked the bottle up. Cole watched her attentively.

"Never thought I would get used to using this," she said more to herself than him, rolling it in hear hand.

"If you just give me some time," Cole pleaded, "we don't need this". He had to make sure he didn't sound too eager to use the potion.

"I'm sick of waiting, I told you before", she said obstinately.

Cole looked at her obediently, "For the potion to have even more effect you have to take it too."

She was suspicious, "Piper took it too?"

He nodded. "Do you think she would have slept with me again if it wasn't really good?"

Phoebe felt again a slight pang of jealousy but still seemed undecided. "Perhaps your right", she considered.

She opened the bottle and nosed the content. "Mmmh like vanilla," Phoebe smiled, "didn't think Paige put effort in the smell or taste."

"The hell she did", Cole thought.

"You first," Phoebe held the bottle to Cole's mouth and he swallowed the half of it without hesitation. This hadn't been part of the plan, but it would do no harm.

Cole was curious what effect the potion had on him. In fact he needed no potion to know the true desire of his heart. It would always be Phoebe.

A warm sensation with its source at his heart spread to his body. He felt so much tenderness and affection for the women before him. It almost tore his heart apart. He wanted to love her, make her happy and protect her. It was overwhelming and he was fighting for self-possession. He blinked several times to remove the wet gleam forming in his eyes.

"Phoebe", his voice was low and throaty and it was very hard for him to concentrate on his mission, "you have to take it too."

The timbre of his voice made her flutter with anticipation. His eyes were dark and bottomless, drawing her to him. She felt like drowning in them. She hastily put the bottle to her lips and emptied it in one swift motion. From the way he reacted this time would be even better than the one before, Phoebe was sure.

She felt the urge to dominate and violate go away. Instead she felt lighthearted and happy. She looked at Cole whose face mirrored an equal expression and their eyes locked.

The empty bottle fell from her hand unknowingly. She moved closer to him, raised both hands to cup his face in them and their lips found each other tenderly. She brushed her hand through his hair and inhaled his strong scent. She felt his caressing lips all over her face and neck. It felt right. It felt like something she had missed for much too long of a time.

Cole tore at the shackles that still parted him from his love. He needed so urgently to touch her. Without breaking the kiss Phoebe reached down to the handcuffs and opened them one after the other. As soon as Cole's hands were free, he pulled her into a tight embrace, holding her body like never letting go again. It felt so good to have her close again. This time tenderly not voraciously.

Phoebe encircled his neck and pressed herself to him. She felt his body heat through her clothes, his breath on her neck giving her shivers. They fell back on the couch together. Cole on top, their lips glued together, his hands fiddling about her blouse. She let her hands trail down his back touching hard muscles under smooth skin. This is really much better than last time she thought.

The demon shimmered in unbeknown to the making out couple. He didn't waste time by watching them, he was just glad that they hadn't recognized him. He sneaked towards the altar and grabbed the Book of Shadows. It trembled on the altar when he reached for it but didn't jump away. He smiled victoriously, pressed the Book against his chest and shimmered out again.

Cole realized that he was free. His powers were unbound and he felt the magic rushing through his body again. The mixture of his released magic and the effect of the potion were intoxicating. He smiled a genuine smile and blurred them from the attic.

tbc.
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