Chapter 26

Kick, Kiss and Mood Killer

Phoebe offered a small smile to Cole to break the sudden awkward silence that had fallen on the room. He gave her a slight head nod but Phoebe was sure she caught a hint of a smile. She looked away from him then and he did the same, scratching the back of his head and catching Leo's eye.

Leo cleared his throat; "right well we should leave you all alone, you probably have stuff to talk about."

Cole nodded in agreement and Phoebe wondered if he'd lost his voice, for a moment she felt herself desperate to hear it.

By the time she snapped out of her daze Leo and Cole were at the door, Leo was smiling at Piper and Cole was…smiling at her. She felt sudden butterflies flutter in her stomach and all she was able to do was nod her head at him.

Then he was gone out the door with Leo behind him. She felt herself let out a breath she wasn't even aware she was holding. She turned to Piper and Prue and realised they were staring at her, obviously expecting her to need a big heart to heart about Cole. Not what she wanted right now.

"Piper!" She squealed and ran into Piper's arms, hugging her sister tightly. And the subject of her and Cole was successfully diverted she noted happily.

Prue was soon joining the embrace too.

"It's so good to see you both," Piper smiled brightly.

"You too." Phoebe and Prue agreed at the same time, they looked at each other and laughed.

"So," Phoebe began while looking around the apartment, "you live here Piper." She sounded impressed.

Prue too was looking around and her eyes fell to the couch where the reason they were even in New York was currently sitting, pretending Prue thought to be engrossed in a magazine. "Well before we get into all that pleasantries I think someone has some explaining to do." She said softly, causing everyone's attention to move to the couch.

"You didn't tell me they were coming," Paige said quietly without turning around.

She was obviously talking to Piper but before she could respond Prue was already in there, "well someone had to come and take you home," she pointed out in a slight harsh tone.

"Yeah Paige why did you run away like that?" Phoebe demanded.

Paige stood up, her magazine dropping to the floor as she did so, "Because I needed someone to talk to!" She shouted while glaring at Prue and Phoebe.

Piper was on the floor beside Paige picking up the fallen magazine and trying to ease the heated argument she felt was coming on but her voice was being ignored and drowned out by everyone else.

"What about us?" Prue asked in disbelief, not believing that was Paige's reason. It was so…so…ridiculous!

"Yeah why her?" Phoebe asked bitterly pointing to Piper who was standing up again, "she abandoned us!"

Piper's ears perked up, "what? Hey!" She looked offended.

Prue shook her head at her, "well you did!"

"She listens!" Paige exclaimed answering Phoebe's question from before. They all turned to look at her. "Where were you when I needed to talk yesterday or the day before that even, oh I'll tell you, Prue you were planning a party for Lindsay Taylor of all people and Phoebe you weren't talking to me because you're upset that I'm giving this baby up for adoption!"

"I am sorry Paige, so sorry." Prue began softly then her voice became quite harsh, "yeah sorry for not being there at your beck and call!"

"Well to be honest I don't want you there anyway! All you do is make me feel guilty, just because you have your precious Abbie!" Paige burst out, her temper rising.

"Paige come on that's enough," Phoebe said calmly.

"Oh yeah Phoebe any mention of your little niece and you're right in there!" Paige retaliated in annoyance.

"Well sorry for the fact that I like being an aunt and am actually quite excited about a new baby coming into the family!" Phoebe's calmness had long gone now.

"That's the point! There won't be a new baby!" Paige yelled while stamping her foot as if to make her point.

"It's not Phoebe's fault you're selfish!" Prue shot at Paige in defence of Phoebe. It was turning out to be Prue and Phoebe vs. Paige and Piper in a way. That never used to happen.

"She's not selfish!" Piper interjected coming quickly to the defence of Paige.

"You're one to talk about being selfish! Just running away and leaving us like that!" Phoebe shouted glaring at Piper.

For a moment they all stood catching their breaths. Prue and Phoebe on one side of the room and Piper and Paige on the other. Heated glances being passed around the room towards each other.

Leo and Cole walked through a nearby park in silence. It had been that way since they left the apartment. Leo stole a glance at Cole then took a sip of his coffee. He swallowed it then decided it was time to break the silence.

"So Phoebe being here…how you feeling about that?" He asked curiously.

"Its…kinda weird." Cole admitted.

You going to talk to her?" Leo inquired while scrunching up his polystyrene cup and throwing in a bin.

Cole screwed up his nose and shrugged his shoulders, "nah I don't think so…we've kind of said all we have to."

Leo nodded and didn't push the subject any further.

Piper cut through the cheese salad sandwiches she'd made with a knife and sat them neatly on a plate before going over and setting the plate down on the coffee table in front of Prue and Phoebe who where reading the magazine Paige had been earlier.

She cleared her throat and they looked up at her, "a piece offering?" she smiled softly.

Prue and Phoebe both nodded and smiled before hugging Piper tightly, "sorry, you know we haven't seen you in ages and the first thing we do is get in a huge fight."

Piper nodded and laughed slightly, "only we could do that."

"Ooh cheese and salad my favourite!" Phoebe exclaimed happily taking a sandwich.

Piper laughed while Prue rolled her eyes.

"Seriously Piper I miss your sandwiches, you know they way you cut them into neat triangles and take the crusts off and there is always the right amount of cheese, so its not too strong but…" She trailed off when she saw their looks.

"I think what Phoebe is trying to say is that we miss you." Prue remarked with a grin.

"Uh huh exactly what I meant!" Phoebe said with her mouth full.

Prue screwed up her nose, "ew Phoebe!"

"You guys don't really feel like I abandoned you, do you?" Piper asked in a small voice while playing with her thumbs.

Prue and Phoebe stopped messing around and turned to Piper. They quickly shared a look with each other.

It was Prue who spoke first, "no sweetie we don't."

"Yeah it just slipped out in the heat of the moment because we were angry that's all. Its not really how I feel." Phoebe expanded Prue's statement.

"We want you to be happy and if living in New York makes you happy then that makes us happy," Prue told her firmly.

"I am happy," Piper assured them with a smile but it quickly fell, "but I do know someone who is not so happy." Her eyes wondered to her bedroom where their youngest sister currently was.

Prue and Phoebe followed her gaze and then they all shared a look of concern.

"What are we going to do about her?" Piper asked but nobody really knew the answer.

"We're her big sisters we are meant to look after her!" Phoebe shook her head ashamed with herself. "Instead we cause her to run away and not even tell us about her being pregnant in the first place. I mean Prue if you hadn't found out that day would we even know right now?"

"I honestly don't know…I mean are we that hard to talk to?" Prue sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Its just Prue when you were pregnant, you were the oldest so it's different, but Paige is the youngest, I can't even imagine how she is feeling." Piper sank down on the couch beside Prue and Phoebe.

"And the way I acted to her, oh God I feel so horrible!" Phoebe buried her face in her hands.

"What about me? I was too busy planning a party to listen to her!" Prue bit her bottom lip feeling thoroughly ashamed.

"Well I'm in New York, when she's going through all this and I just left you guys to deal with it all." Piper added to the conversation her own guilt too.

"Its okay."

They all turned their heads to see Paige standing at the doorway of Piper's bedroom; her cheeks were stained with dry tears.

She walked closer to them all, "don't feel guilty, its not your fault I got pregnant."

"We should have listened to you, we're sorry." Prue apologised on behalf of herself and Phoebe while Phoebe nodded in agreement. "We're going to talk about everything."

"School, Glen, Grams…everything." Phoebe promised.

"Yeah Glen I'm going to tell him when we get back." Paige told them causing them all to be surprised.

"Really?"

"Even if I am giving the baby up, he deserves to know." Paige explained solemnly.

"And Grams?" Phoebe asked quietly.

Paige bit her lip, "I guess I have to."

"I'm coming home." Piper suddenly announced.

"What?" They all exclaimed in unison.

"You need me at home right now." Piper explained.

"No Piper, no way am I letting you give up your life here because of me! No way." Paige told her firmly, Piper opened her mouth to argue but Paige cut her off, "Don't say another word about it…oh…oh."

"Paige?"

"It kicked." Paige whispered in slight awe with her hand on her stomach.

Her sisters broke into grins and immediately demanded to feel. The four all stood there hands on Paige's stomach feeling the baby kick. And for that brief time all concerns flew out the window. Paige didn't even flinch when they all touched her expanding stomach like she usually did out of embarrassment.

Now she looked almost proud which her sisters noted happily.

But they weren't quite sure what that meant. Maybe Prue could start looking out some of Abbie's old things…

"We're not interrupting anything are we?" Leo asked about ten minutes later when him and Cole walked into the apartment.

"No," Piper answered from the kitchen. "I was just making more sandwiches…it seems Phoebe really likes my cheese salad sandwiches."

Phoebe blushed slightly and Cole couldn't help but notice how cute she was.

"Cole you staying?" Piper asked without thinking.

He shook his head disappointing Phoebe but she smiled all the same not wanting to let anyone know. "Thanks Piper but I got to go…just came up for my cell." He grabbed it of the side table noticing he had one missed call. He ignored it and turned to Prue, Phoebe and Paige. "It was really great seeing you all." His eyes lingered on Phoebe for longer before he dragged them away. "Bye." And he was gone again.

Everyone in the room turned expectantly to Phoebe. "What?" She asked innocently.

"You're not just going to let him go without talking to him are you?" Prue asked raising her eyebrows

"Right, you're right…I'll go." She took a deep breath and opened the door and ran after Cole.

"What do you thinks going to happen?" Leo asked with curiosity.

The sisters all shrugged.

Leo nodded, "right…so sandwiches!"

"Cole," He heard his name being called out softly. He stopped dead in his tracks trying to ignore the tingle running down his spine. He turned to face her, a slight smirk on his face. "It took you long enough." He commented.

"Huh? You knew I would come after you?" She asked curiously.

"Well I hoped you would," he admitted sheepishly.

She nodded, her eyes never leaving his. She felt herself get lost in them for a moment before blinking a few times and snapping back into reality. "So I got your message." She told him quietly. As soon as she said it she wondered why she had. Way to make the situation more awkward. But it didn't seem to affect him at all.

"You never replied," he responded trying to sound like it didn't matter that much.

"I thought it was best not to…you know moving on and everything." She replied weakly.

"Yeah I guess you're right," he agreed, a slight smile highlighting his features.

Phoebe nodded as her heart race increased slightly as he stepped forward. Her words caught in her throat so she remained silent waiting for him to speak.

"Although…" He began moving very close to her, his voice becoming husky sending shivers down her spine.

"Although…" She repeated softly as if hanging onto his every word. Her heart rate increased rapidly as he now had his fingers intertwined with hers.

"Although sometimes you shouldn't listen to your head but to your heart." She could feel his breath on her neck. He looked her directly in the eye. "What's your heart telling you Phoebe?" He asked barely above a whisper.

She gulped as he positioned his mouth only inches from hers. Hesitantly she licked her lips, before she spoke in a breathless voice, "it's telling me to do this." And with that said she wrapped her arms around Cole's neck and pulled him towards her feeling the soft touch of his lips against hers.

At first the kiss was pure lust. They were both longing to do it for so long. She forced her tongue into his mouth and intertwined his with hers. Her hands ran wildly through his hair while his roamed freely down her body. Soon the fire slowly died down, his hands froze around her waist and hers fell to round his neck again. It lasted moments longer as just a soft and tender kiss of love.

They broke apart and Phoebe closed her eyes for a moment, replaying the kiss in her head. When she opened her eyes she saw Cole grinning at her.

She felt herself unable to hold her own grin in. They just stood there staring at each other until Phoebe's phone rang. She answered in a cheerful tone. Her grin vanished completely when she heard who it was, "hi, you know now is not really a good time, can I call you back?"

"Phoebe your Grams called asking to speak to you because you were staying the night at mine supposedly,"

"Oh, right about that…"

"Where are you Phoebe?"

Phoebe turned away from Cole and in a hushed voice spoke into the phone, "Lee you didn't tell her I wasn't there right?"

"Its okay I covered for you but I would like to know why you lied to her."

"It's a long story but I'm in New York."

"New York! Phoebe…"

"Lee I really can't talk right now…I'm sorry."

"Its okay Phoebe you don't need to apologise, you didn't lie to me but it would have been nice to know."

"I'm sorry," with that said she hung up the phone. She closed her eyes feeling guilty then composed herself enough to turn back to Cole.

His smiled had faded too.

"Cole I…" She was cut off by a blonde girl about her age round the corner and wrap her arms around Cole and cover his eyes.

"Guess who?"

He jumped at her touch and spun round surprised, "Lisa, hi…Wh…what are you doing here?" He stuttered self consciously flattening his hair.

"I know we were supposed to meet at the café but…well change of plan…I called you but you never answered." Lisa explained and Cole thought to the missed call on his phone. He noticed Lisa turn her attention to Phoebe, "so who's your friend?" She asked, a fake smile on her face, as she was aware she had interrupted something between the two.

"Em…this is Phoebe. Phoebe this is Lisa." He introduced the two awkwardly.

Phoebe forced a smile, "its nice to meet you." She politely shook hand with her and then looked to Cole trying to keep it together, "well I better go…it was nice seeing you again Cole." She smiled softly at him and started to walk away.

"Phoebe…" Cole called out, she hesitantly looked back round at him. He glanced at Lisa who had her hand on her hip and an expectant look on her face. He gulped and smiled softly at Phoebe, "it was nice to see you too…bye Phoebe."

She nodded and smiled again at him and then she walked away, hoping he would call her back but he never.

"So what happened?" Prue asked desperate to know how it went.

Phoebe had just walked in the door and she was bombarded with questions, she sighed and sank down on the couch.

"That well huh?" Piper said feeling sorry for her. "What did you say to him?"

"Nothing really," it wasn't a lie really. They didn't spend that much time talking.

"Oh my God you kissed!" Prue exclaimed.

Phoebe looked at her in disbelief.

"So you did then?" Prue inquired when Phoebe never answered.

"Look if you must know his girlfriend showed up, Linda or something." Phoebe said trying not to sound too bitter.

"Lisa," Piper corrected only to get shot a glare from Phoebe. "Right sorry."

"Right but you did kiss I can tell from your clothes and you're hair," Prue observed with a smirk as Phoebe ran her fingers quickly though her hair.

"Ok we did," she admitted.

"Was it good?" Paige asked joining the conversation now that it had got interesting.

"Yeah but his girlfriend showing up and my boyfriend calling kind of killed the mood." She sighed trying to joke but she knew it was serous they had both cheated. And that was something she did not ever want to do.

"I told you, you weren't over him," Prue teased trying to keep the mood light. They'd had too many serious conversations all day to turn this into one too.

"It was just a kiss!" Phoebe protested but she was lying and she knew it.

"Its never just a kiss." Piper said firmly and they all pondered that thought for a moment before Phoebe saw an escape route out of the conversation.

"So where is Leo?" She asked.

"Oh he went out to get some shopping," Piper replied. "And he offered to sleep on the couch tonight so we could all share my double bed."

"Em Piper no offence but I don't think they'll be enough room," Phoebe grinned.

"Yeah there will we used to always fit four of us in Prue's bed and its no bigger." Piper reminded them.

"Yeah but we were younger and one of us wasn't pregnant." Paige couldn't help but giggle slightly.

"Oh yeah well then two of us will just have to sleep on the floor," Piper suggested.

"But who?" Prue asked.

"Well its my bed so I think I should get to," Piper pointed out with a grin.

"Well I'm pregnant so I shouldn't really sleep on the floor," Paige pointed out grinning at Piper. "I guess that mean you two are on the floor." She pointed at Prue and Phoebe.

"Hey we're guests, if anyone should sleep on the floor it should be Piper!" Phoebe protested.

"Wait I know how we can sort this out fairly," they all stopped to listen to Piper. "Pillow fight!" With that said she grabbed a cushion of the couch and whacked Phoebe's bottom with it.

"Oh it's on now!" She shrieked and ran to Piper's bedroom to get a pillow while Prue and Paige burst out laughing.

It was good to all be together again.