I don't own charmed.

Chapter 15: In the Still of the Night

Halliwell Mannor, 3am.

Piper, en route from the kitchen, having warmed up a bottle for the baby, paused at the door to Phoebe's room. Noticing that the door was ajar and light was coming from inside, she stuck her head inside. Phoebe lay curled up in a chair close to the bed, the empty vial of potion that she had used to clean Coles wounds in one hand, a blood smeared cloth in the other, her eyes closed. Cole was still on the bed, his wounds had stopped bleeding, but he had yet to regain consciousness. As much as Piper disliked him, he hoped for Ben's sake more than anything, that he made it through the night. She crept up, pulled a blanket over her little sister, and shuffled back to her own room.

If outwardly Phoebe had appeared to be sleeping calmly to Piper, inwardly she was anything but. In her mind she kept replaying certain scenes between her and Cole, such as when they met, their brief marriage, his numerous vanquishings…but there was one thing that she kept returning to, something he had said the day that he had first brought an injured Ben to her, something that she had completely forgotten about until now.

Flashback

Huh, you didn't waste much time then did you?" Phoebe drawled

"What?" Of all the opening lines he had expected, this was not one of them.

"Get kind of lonely in the wasteland did you? Needed someone to keep that cold heart of your's warm? Or is that you have a girl in every port? Or in your case, every spiritual plane?"

"You've really lost me"

"Come on Cole, don't play the innocent, I'm not deaf you know, or stupid, contrary to popular belief. I much doubt that he was an immaculate conception"

"I seriously don't know..."

"His mother" Phoebe enunciated each word "the woman who you were on your way to visit when you got ambushed by the demon, Look at him, he's Wyatts age, which means you soon got over loosing me, quick enough to get some bit of fluff, knocked up within months of our divorce."

"Oh"

"Do you love her?"

"Who?" careful, careful, ice.very.thin.skating.on.

"You know who. The mother of your son"

"You don't want to know"

"Yes I do"

"Yes I love her. Satisfied?"

End of Flash back.

He loved her. Even though he would never admit it her face, apart from earlier that evening, and only then because he believed he was about to die..Cole still loved her. She still loved him of course. Not that she had admitted it to anyone, not even herself, but it had always been there, this tiny part of her who longed for him, and wanted him. But now,…now it might be too late.

XXX

"the baby get back to sleep?" Leo asked as Piper climbed back into bed.

"Yep, only problem is is that now I'm wide awake" she grumbled.

"well close your eyes, relax and you'll be asleep in no time"

"nope, that's it these days, once I'm awake I'm awake"

"well" Leo began "I can think of a few things to do to pass the time" he leaned toward and began to kiss her

"Leo" Piper pulled out of the increasingly passionate embrace after about 5 minitues " we need to stop this"

"why? We're two consenting adults, we're married, we have done this before"

"yes and I know, but I don't want to do this right now"

"why not?"

"because….because I don't want to get Pregnant"

"Piper! You don't have to get pregnant , we'll take precautions"

"The only thing that is 100 effective is abstinence" came the reply

" Okay, leo thought, let's not over react "Piper, even if despite all the precautions you were to become pregnant, would it be such a bad thing, we always talked about having more kids"

"Yes it would. Because I, for one don't want to have anymore kids"

"what? Surely you don't mean that!"

"Not, now not ever" Piper getting agitated lept out of bed.

"Piper!" Leo reached for her "come back to bed, let's discuss this"

"There's nothing to discuss, and I think, given that you can't control yourself, it's best that one of us sleeps on the sofa tonight" She opened the wardrobe door and began grabbing the extra blankets and pillows.

"come on, honey.."

"It's okay, I'll go"

Piper exited the room clutching at the spare duvet, slamming the door behind her. Leaving Leo to ponder exactly what had just happened. Chris is right, he thought, there is defiantly something not quite right.

XXX

Paige lay in her bed awake, listening to the sounds of Kyle snoring softly besides her. At least he's still here, she thought. To give him his credit he hadn't run away at the news.

She hadn't wanted to tell him, but knowing that Prue wouldn't give her a moments peace until she did, she had plucked up her courage and invited him over that very evening.

Flashback

"there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to come out and say it, I'm pregnant"

"oh"

"Oh? Is that all you've got to say?"

"well, it's just one surprise after the next isn't it, what do you want, a cartwheel display?"

"No….but I'm keeping it, before you say any anything,"

"I wasn't going to suggest otherwise"

"you seem remarkabaly calm about all this…"

"..what would you like me to do? Freak out, because I don't think that would do either of us any good"

"aren't you shocked?"

"we have had sex Paige, so shocked would be a little strong, but very very surprised yes"

End of flash back

Then they had talked, and talked, and eventually decided that there was no point in making plans, because things never went according to them anyway, and that the best thing to do would be to muddle along and see how things panned out. The one point they were both agreed on, was that this time around they would both be there for the baby, Elder's and the Greater Good be dammed.

"mum" a voice called from behind the closed bedroom door.

"Yes" Paige began to worry about what Jo was doing up at this time of night.

"Can I come in a minute?"

Paige whipped her head around to double check that Kyle was wearing PJammas. "Yes" she called.

The door opened and Jo shuffled in, the moonlight that was seeping in through the gap in the curtains illuminated her face and Paige could see that she had been crying.

"sweet heart whats wrong?" she asked as Jo dropped into her arms.

"I, I, I had that dream again" Jo sniffled "the one where I was trapped in the car, and dad was trapped in the car, and he was screaming, screaming so loudly, and I wanted to help him, I wanted to help him so badly, but I couldn't reach.."

The horrific nightmares that had pierced Jo's sleep in the weeks and months following the death of her adoptive father had gradually disappeared over time, however often in times of stress or anger they reappeared with a vengence.

"It's okay sweetie" Paige soothed "It's just because you've been upset by what happened to Cole."

"I just want them to go away"

"I know, and they will darling, …oh my poor little baby" she rocked her daughter back and fore

"Baby, what's wrong with the baby?" Kyle awoke with a start. He looked up confused to find Paige and Jo.

"Nothing" Paige said

"That's ok" Kyle breathed "I thought something was wrong with the baby"

"Baby? What Baby?" Jo was confused.

"ugh..you haven't told her?" Kyle asked Paige.

"told me what?" Jo demanded.

"No dear" Paige addressed Kyle " I was waiting for a better time than say, when she is upset in the middle of the night"

"tell me what?" Jo insisted.

"That, I, well, we" Paige began "as in Kyle and I, are going to have a baby"

"That's a bit quick isn't it?" Came the blunt response of a 12 year old.

Kyle could see Paige getting pinker by the minute even in the darkened room "A bit I suppose" he replied

"right" Jo still appeared to be processing the information " will I have to share a room with it?"

"It's not an It" Paige corrected "and , no, Leo and Chris should have finished the extension by then"

"oh"

"Look Jo, we know this is a lot for on to take on board, but could you do me a favour" Paige asked " and not tell your aunts about this"

"why not?"

"because I just want to keep it to ourselves, for a little while in any case"

"If you want….look I'm going to go back to bed"

"do you want me to tuck you in?"

"mum! I'm 12!"

"I was just asking.."

"night!" Jo was out the door.

"That went better than expected" Kyle commented.

"No thanks to you" Paige threw a pillow at him " I think she was more stunned than anything, I think we're going to get a delayed reaction on the cards"

"she had to be told sometime"

"Yeah, when she was ready and when I as ready"

"women!"

"carefully buddy" Paige smiled "'cos your getting seriously out numbered!"

XXX

The noise of the early morning bird song alerted Phoebe firstly to the fact that she must have eventually dozed off, and secondly that someone must have opened a window. She opened her eyes to find the bed in front of her empty. Her heart temporarily froze until her eyes travelled across the room and she saw Cole standing in the window.

"Cole" she cried.

"Look's like Chris and Leo have made a lot of progress on the extension" he replied, his back to her.

"wuh" she was thrown off balance by his remark, as if he had just popped in to pass the time of day as opposed to nearly dying right there in front of her.

"Cole, you.."

"they have the support frame already up, just needs.."

"Cole"

"What?" he turned round, his eyes cold and emotionless, no sign of the love that they had held last night.

"You're feeling better then?" she stuttered.

"Much, that potion you used really packed a punch, thnak your sisters for me"

"What about me?"

"well, yes, and you…how many rooms is this thing going to hold"

"ugh,6 I think, 1 for Prue, 1 for Chris, 1 Guest room, 1 for Ben…Look Cole.."

"One for Ben? Why do you need one for Ben?"

"Because I don't think he will want to share a room with me for life"

"well he won't need to will he? he has his own room at my place, you didn't honestly think that he would be staying here with you did you? Not once I come back"

Phoebe blushed, as that was exactly what she had been thinking "no….she began slowly "but he'll need a room when he comes to visit….anyway,that's besides the point"

"what is the point?"

"that you nearly died last night! and all you can talk about this morning is bloody building techniques, what is wrong with you?"

"what is there to talk about, I needed healing, you healed me. Amen. All is sorted."

"but what about what you said, about what you told me" Phoebe continued, and just for a briefest of seconds, Coles' mask fell.

"People say a lot of stupid things when they think they're dying Phoebe" He turned his back so that she wouldn't see the sadness in his eyes "things they don't always mean"

"But…"

"I've got to go" He snapped. "thank your sisters for me. Tell Ben I'll be back soon".

He shimmered out, leaving Phoebe more confused than ever.

XXX

TBC