Part Three

Phoebe stopped pacing and glanced at her watch. Cole had been gone for nearly two hours and, by her calculation, she only had a few left before the potion would wear off. But she still needed the answers she came for and she didn't look forward to interrupting Cole to get them. She glanced around the room hoping to find something she'd missed. She'd already examined every book lying around and the few written in English that she could read weren't any help. She glanced at her watch again and suddenly panicked that Cole might have gone straight back to the penthouse.

"Why are you still here?"

She jumped in surprise and pressed a hand to her racing heart.

Cole quickly approached and apologized, "I thought you'd gone home hours ago."

"I couldn't," she truthfully told him. "I need to talk to you."

"Sit down," he told her as he pointed to the chaise lounge, "before you keel over. Do you want something to eat?"

She automatically brought a hand to her throat and managed to shake her head as she made her way back to the lounge.

He watched as she awkwardly made herself comfortable. "It's okay, Phoebe, I approve."

"Approve of what?"

"Did you think I hadn't noticed?" He sat next to her and fingered the ends of her hair, "I like it this way."

She gasped. How could she have forgotten to put her hair up before she drank the potion? "Of all the stupid --"

"It gives you a more regal appearance," he quickly assured her in the hopes of assuaging a mood swing.

"Of course you like it," she glared at him, "you hated it when I cut it in the first place."

Too late, he realized. Her emotions were already spinning. "You could have discussed it first," he merely said.

"Don't take that tone with me, Cole," she warned.

He brushed her hair behind her shoulders and, lightly gripping them, kissed her lips, "You're beautiful."

Phoebe couldn't think, not with his lips on hers, not with him pulling her closer, not with her body responding eagerly to his touch.

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He felt Phoebe shiver so he created a warm blanket that settled comfortably over them. "Better?"

Partly sprawled on him, Phoebe nuzzled his bare chest, "Almost like it was before."

He heard the regret in her voice and, stroking her back, he kissed the top of her head, and admitted, "He's stronger now. When we're like this, I mean. Because of you, his love for you. I can almost understand the power this emotion wields and how I've previously underestimated it before."

She squeezed her arm tighter around his waist, "Oh, Cole, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

His thumb gently wiped away the tears from her cheek as his palm caressed it. "It can be better than before, Phoebe. Give me a chance, give us a chance."

"This," she emphasized with a kiss to his chest, "was never our problem, Cole." She lifted her head slightly but couldn't look at him as she lightly tapped his chest, "This was always magical. But we thought we could keep ourselves in that magical bubble and that was part of our mistake."

"Why do you keep talking about us in the past tense?"

"Because," she nervously stuttered as she tried to think of an excuse, "because you're constantly telling me that I have to leave that life in the past."

He gently pressed her head back to his chest and continued stroking her shoulder and arm, "Touché."

"If I ask you something," she quietly asked as her body automatically found its favorite position nestling against his, "would you give me an honest answer, as honest as you can, anyway?"

"Ask your question," he replied without hesitation. She remained silent though so he encouraged, "Whatever you want."

Phoebe propped herself on his chest with her elbows and gazed directly into his eyes, "Do you really believe we can live happily ever after down here?"

"Technically, we won't be living down here," he replied as he smoothed her hair behind her ears. But before she could protest, he added, "We will be a force to be reckoned with for generations to come."

"That's not what I asked," Phoebe shook her head as pulled back and sat up. She let the blanket slide away and kept her focus on him. "Do you really believe we'll be happy?"

"As long as we're together," he leaned forward towards her, "as long as we're loyal to each other, yes, Phoebe, I believe we will."

With a choked sob, she let him pull her back down. "Can we," she whispered between his kisses, "can we pretend, just this once, that we're back inside that magic bubble?"

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Perilously close to falling off the lounge, Cole inched closer to her, "You should have let me take us home."

Knowing she'd been hogging most of the lounge, Phoebe was too tired to move and sighed contentedly, "Would've ruined the moment." She gasped when the blanket was suddenly yanked away. Quickly rolling over, she found herself alone on the lounge and she gazed down at the demon who struggled on the floor within the twisted blanket. When the offending object burst into flames, she couldn't help but giggle, "Next time make sure it's an extra-wide lounge."

He reached up and pulled her head down for a deep kiss, "Next time, it will be a king-size bed with silk sheets." When she tried stifling a yawn in mid-kiss, he suggested, "Luckily for you, there's already one back home calling your name."

"I don't think I can move just yet," she argued, tugging his hand to make him get up and join her on the lounge. "Are you sure no one's going to barge in on us?"

He flamed from the floor to the lounge and, spooning tightly with her, he affectionately rubbed her belly, "I've secured this chamber. Anyone who dares interrupt will painfully become a pile of ash."

"If I turn over, I won't see them staring at us through the archway?"

"No one can see past the barrier," he assured her. "You have no reason to be shy, Phoebe," he complimented as his fingers wandered up and down the side of her body, "you are quite beautiful."

"I just don't like an audience," she commented as she turned around in his arms.

"Maybe this will help," he suggested as he created a new blanket.

"Maybe it will," she teased as she pulled it over her head while kissing his chest.

"Phoebe, what are you up to?" he groaned as she kissed her way down his body.

"Not as much as you," she murmured before having her way with him.

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"I think I like what pregnancy brings out in you," he teased as they lay spent under the blanket, "but if I don't get us home now, you'll wake up cranky."

"I do not wake up cranky," she pouted before elbowing him. But he only pulled her closer and she felt her body melt against his. She giggled at the irony of feeling like she was in heaven in the middle of the Underworld.

"No more tonight, you evil witch," he playfully warned. "You need to rest."

"I wasn't the only one doing evil things tonight," she countered as she reached behind them to pinch his behind.

Pleased she could joke about being evil, Cole pressed a firm kiss to the back of her head. "It will be better than you can possibly imagine," he promised quietly.

Or worse, she thought to herself. He didn't have a clue that he was about to be vanquished at her hand on the very next night. "Cole, I need to ask you something about --" But she felt the tug of him transporting them and called out, "Wait!"

Stopping immediately, Cole asked in concern, "What's wrong?"

She had to keep him out of the bedroom where her past-self was hopefully sound asleep. Thinking quickly, she patted his chest, "I've worked up a bit of an appetite. Maybe you could bring us to the kitchen instead."

Sliding out from behind her, he rose from the lounge and held out his hand to her before flaming them to their kitchen.

Phoebe swayed the instant they appeared. "I'm okay," she assured him but he'd already lifted her into his arms. "Put me down."

"In bed," he stated.

The last place she wanted him. She kicked her feet, "Cole, I'm hungry. Put me down."

With a sigh, he complied to her wishes. "If you go back to bed, I'll make whatever you like."

"Grilled cheese," she licked her lips, "but we'll eat it here. I don't like breadcrumbs in bed." But when it suddenly appeared on a plate on the counter, she frowned, "What's that?"

"Grilled cheese," he replied as he had a glass of milk materialize next to the plate.

"I don't want that," she declared with her hands on her hips.

"You just said you wanted grilled cheese," he began impatiently, "that's what I --"

"I thought you were going to make it for me."

"I did," he insisted.

"You think you could've put a little more effort into it?" she retorted.

"Why are you picking a fight?" he snapped back.

"Because I'm about to --" Phoebe stopped herself from finishing the thought. She was about to disappear from this magical moment and return to the real world where he no longer existed. "I'm sorry," she apologized. If only she could have told him back then and made him understand the depth of her pain, of her love. If only they'd had more time before it all went to hell. The room spun again and she reached out to grab the counter. The time-travel potion was starting to work and she still didn't have the answers she came for. "I'm okay," she repeated. "Look, can you just give me back my clothes and I'll --" The clothing appeared in his hands before she finished her sentence. She accepted the items and told him, "I'll be in the bedroom."

Cole shook his head in amazement at the range of emotions she'd displayed in the span of a few minutes. "I'll make you grilled cheese the old-fashioned way," he offered as he caused the filled plate to disappear.

With tears stinging her eyes, Phoebe threw herself into his arms and kissed him, "Thank you…for everything."

He watched her turn to leave and muttered to himself, "It's going to be a long nine months."

Phoebe stiffened for a moment before storming out, "The hair's going short again!"

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She made it into the bedroom just as she was hit with a nausea-inducing dizzy spell. She saw her past-self sound asleep and dressed as quietly as she could. But after her exertions with Cole and with the dizziness growing, Phoebe hunched over and nearly collapsed on the bed. "Shhh, it's okay," Phoebe told her awakened past-self. "I don't have time so just listen. Cole's about to come in with the snack you wanted and you've gotta pour this," she instructed as she fished through her pocket for the truth potion and she shoved it at her self, "into his drink and ask him about --"

Letting her hand flame, she ordered her invading doppelganger, "Get the hell away from me."

But Phoebe was running out of time and, despite the danger, grabbed her by the shoulders, "Listen to me, you have to get Cole to drink the potion and then ask him about the Triad and Christy. You have to find out what their plans are and what this ultimate power is."

"I don't have to do anything," she shoved the woman away. But she did pick up the vial that had dropped into her lap, "What are you doing here? What is this?"

"Something to get him to tell the truth," Phoebe admitted. "You've got to do it, your future's at stake."

"Your future," she corrected as she eyed the stranger. "Chances are you've already changed the past, so why should --"

"Because," Phoebe interrupted, "of the baby." Tears stung her eyes again as she watched her past-self's hand protectively press her stomach. She hadn't been referring to that baby but to the little girl she so desperately hoped Coop was right about still being in her future. "Tell Cole you had a premonition about the Triad kidnapping a witch named Christy. He'll want to know what you saw but tell him it was fuzzy and only lasted long enough for you to see that much. He'll tell you that you're tired and it's nothing to worry about." She pushed further, "But you need to know what's going on and you need to remember what he tells you."

"The baby's life is really in danger?" When Phoebe nodded, she questioned, "Won't Cole realize he's been drugged?"

Phoebe shook her head, "He'll be too worried about you and want to avoid another mood swing."

"I don't know…"

"Trust me," Phoebe pleaded while praying she wouldn't throw up all over the bed. She swallowed and closed her eyes a moment, "You know I wouldn't mess with the past unless it was life or death."

"Cole killed the Triad," she countered. "Are you saying they come back? Do they go up against Cole? Does he lose? Do they hurt the baby?"

"Phoebe, who are you talking to?"

"That's Cole," Phoebe whispered as she quickly darted to the closet. "Trust me…" she requested one last time before closing herself in the closet just as the bedroom door opened. But before she could concentrate on their conversation, she fell to her knees and the world spun away.

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