Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed.

Talking

"Pheebs? You're done with the annulment already?" Piper nervously questioned as she looked back and forth between her sister and ex in-law. This was not good. She'd wanted time to prepare Phoebe for a confrontation with Cole, if he'd agreed to one. But, after his refusal to speak with her, well this just made it even more awkward for everyone.

Phoebe ignored Piper. She'd come directly here after she'd ended her recent marriage in order to spend some quality sister time with Piper and Paige. She wasn't expecting... she'd never even dreamed that he would, that he could be... standing there, in front of her, as corporeal as when she'd last seen him. He had the same tall, strong figure she remembered. He had the same dark hair, the same strong jaw, and she'd heard the smooth flow of his voice. She recalled when she'd lived to hear him whisper words of love into her ear. She noticed that his hands still looked tough, as though they could easily break a man's neck, and she knew they had, but she also knew how gentle they could be when touching her. He'd lost the desperate look in his eyes, though- those deep, clear blue eyes that she'd once upon a time spent endless hours staring into. Those same eyes that she was again staring into. She was incapable of tearing herself from his gaze. Phoebe never thought she would see him again, but as he stood before her, she realized that what she'd told Piper had been true. It hurt. She saw fear (of seeing her again?), regret (she was all too familiar with that emotion), pain, sadness, longing, and love in his eyes. And she knew that he could see the same reflected in her own dark eyes. No words would leave Phoebe's mouth, though she opened it several times.

Cole saw the emotions flicker through her large, chocolate eyes. It was painful, just as he'd told Piper. They hadn't said a thing to each other, but already he didn't want to leave. His eyes roaming over her figure, Cole noticed that, despite the several years of his absence, she still looked just as beautiful as the day she'd informed him of her lack of feeling toward him. He hadn't believed her, but it had still been the most painful moment of his life. Even more painful then having half of himself stripped from his body, more painful then being vanquished by words whispered from her lips or a vial of purple liquid being thrown by another version of her. He'd long since forgiven her, but the hurt wasn't something that went away easily. Unlike the ultimate fear he'd face every time her life was on the line or when her soul had been lost. That fear had been placated once he held her in his arms or at least known of her safety. He'd never been able to get rid of the underlying dread that something else would come after her, but he calmed himself knowing that for the moment she was fine. But, the sting that came with realizing she didn't want him anymore refused to be erased.

And yet, he could still see the desire in her eyes. Maybe if he'd given her the space she'd wanted back then...

"O-K," Paige said slowly to Piper, "this is getting a bit... strange. How long have we been standing here?" She looked at her watch and let out an audible gasp, causing Piper to stop watching the emotions flicker across the faces of Phoebe and Cole and turn to her. "This is like twenty minutes out of my life," she complained. "They're like in a trance. I don't think they're even breathing, well Phoebe anyway, since he doesn't breathe anymore, but-"

"Come on, Paige." Piper took the younger woman by the arm as she moved to the attic door. "We'll let you two talk."

"We'll what!" Paige exclaimed. "We're not even gonna stay and be bodyguards or-"

"Paige, let's go."

"Oh, alright, but I'm coming back in ten minutes if we don't hear anything."

Piper shook her head. "They'll need more time than that to work things out and you know it."

"Work things out? I don't want them to 'work things out'. I want her to get some closure or whatever and him to go back to his lovely, little limbo abode."

As the door shut behind the two, Cole tried once again to remove his gaze from his ex-wife. He was, once again, unsuccessful.

Phoebe, still unable to form a word, much less a sentence, opted for the next best option. Without giving him time to ponder about what she was going to do, Phoebe quickly strode across the floor and embraced her old flame. Her hands moved up his arms as she assured herself of his existence. Only then did she allow the pleasure of circling his waist with her arms and feeling his body, of breathing in his scent to overcome her.

Surprised, it took Cole a moment before he wrapped his own arms around her tiny frame. Phoebe's response was to nuzzle his neck, as she relished in being held by him again.

Piper leaned back on her bed. She let out a loud sigh.

"How'd it go?" asked Leo, appearing in the doorway.

"Where are the kids?"

"Sleeping. So, what happened?"

"Paige wanted to vanquish him again when he admitted he still has Belthazor's powers. I talked her out of it, for the moment. I'm sure she still wants to, not that it would do anything since he's already dead. He was at Phoebe's wedding, so she wasn't hallucinating. He didn't want to talk to her, though, because it still hurts him, too. I understand that, but when he was about to leave, we noticed Phoebe standing by the door. Who knows how long she was there. Then, Phoebe and Cole just stared at each other. Paige got impatient and started complaining. It's not really our business though, so I dragged her downstairs and then sent her off to Henry's office."

"Wow," Leo commented.

"Yeah."

"So, Cole's still Belthazor?"

"Apparently he never made a stop at the Wasteland to lose him."

"Oh. And Paige is still holding a grudge?"

Shrugging, Piper told him, "I get that he targeted her the most, but..."

She let her previous sentence trail off. "He said he only meant to wipe out our meeting, not her life, in that alternate world he created. I believe him."

"But, Paige doesn't."

"No, I think she believes him. But, she still doesn't trust him. And, she's still extremely angry at him. You know, I told her that his becoming the Source hurt Phoebe and me more than her because she never thought of him as family before that and vice-versa. She never really saw any of his good qualities or his good heart. And then he always aimed the painful parts of his plans at her."

"That's true. He was in love with Phoebe and thought of you as family, too. So, Paige was the obvious choice of someone to hurt."

"And it worked."

Leo glanced to the ceiling, "What do you think will happen with them?"

"You should've seen the way they were looking at each other, Leo. It broke my heart. I wish we could find a way to bring him back, so they could both be happy. But, I just don't know that it's possible."

Leo climbed onto the bed next to her and wrapped his arms around his wife. She smiled, "I wish Phoebe could have the same happiness we do."

Tightening his hold, Leo agreed.

"Hey, Leo?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm pregnant."

The invisible circles he'd been drawing on Piper's arm ceased as he quickly sat up right in bed. "You're what?" he whispered, breathless.

"Baby number three is on the way," Piper repeated with a smile.

"You're kidding!"

When she shook her head, Leo grabbed Piper in a firm hold. "I can't believe it! Honey, that's so great!"

"Isn't it?" she grinned.

"How long were you standing there?" Cole opened the conversation as he and Phoebe sat on an old couch. They were holding hands and Phoebe was snuggled into his side, refusing to break contact with him, even for a second.

She looked up at him and couldn't help caressing his face, her hand tracing the contours and a finger sliding over his lips as she answered, "Since Paige thought Piper became a man."

"That long, huh? So, you heard... everything?"

She nodded and hugged him tighter. "I'm glad you got Belthazor back. He was a part of you that you never should have lost in the first place."

"He made it harder for me to fight my demonic nature," Cole stated, running his fingers through her brown hair absently.

"Still, they were part of you," she stopped for a moment and tears welled up in her eyes. "God, Cole, I am so sorry. I was so cruel. I-"

He cut her off before she could get any further. "I heard you, in your old room. But, you don't have anything to be sorry for. You-"

This time Phoebe cut him off. "Hurt you," she finished.

"I hurt you, too," he said, his voice thick with regret. "And, you'll never know how sorry I am. I just wish I could make it up to you."

"Same here. I love you, Cole. I always have and I always will. Nothing will ever change that," Phoebe quoted herself, saying the same thing she'd swore many times throughout their rocky relationship. And, as with all the other times, Cole knew it was the truth. "I'm sorry I tried to deny it for so long," she continued.

He smiled, sadly. "I love you, too, Phoebe," he promised before pulling him self, quite reluctantly, out of her arms. Standing before her, he said wistfully, "I'm sorry we never got our happily ever after."

Phoebe scrambled to her feet. "Not yet. But, we will."

"Phoebe-"

"No, I want that. We deserve that. Both of us. Together. I'll get you out of limbo."

"I belong there, Phoebe. You have to let go."

"No," she said forcefully. "We've both made mistakes. We both regret them. But, neither of us deserves a life without love."

"You've had love since me. You'll have love again. A love that will work out. Now, I'm certainly not objecting to your leaving a piece of your heart for me, but I want you to be happy. And, I've finally accepted that it won't be with me."

"It will be with you!" Phoebe said before promptly kissing him. She slid her hands up his chest before clasping her arms around his neck, fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. She moaned as Cole's hands grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, if that was possible, to him and deepened the kiss. Each poured all the love for each other they'd kept bottled up into that one searing kiss.

When Phoebe pulled away, but keeping herself pressed up against him, her eyes were ablaze with a passion that matched his. "I will bring you back."