Surprise!
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Charmed is not mine own.
A/N: Huge thanks to: AnimeAlexis (who inspired this story), Brittany, Marisa, alboppy, Phantasie, ethereal girl, charmed1s-halliwells, Melinda Turner Halliwell, and everyone who's given my little fanfic a chance. You are all brilliant!
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(Phoebe is an alley, fighting with a demon. She grabs the demon, levitates w/ him a few feet off of the ground, and freezes him in midair. She floats back down, and unfreezes the demon's head)
Demon: (Confused) What the—who the hell are you?
Phoebe: (lightly) A very ticked off mother. Who's your boss? Where did he take my son?
Demon: (defiantly) What boss?
(Phoebe blows up his foot. The demon screams in pain)
Phoebe: (same light tone) Go right ahead and play it like that. There's plenty more of you to blow up. (She raises her hands as if to attack. The demons eyes widen in fear.)
Demon: Wait! All right, all right!
Phoebe: Good demon! That's more like it.
Demon: His name's Ezekiel.
Phoebe: Ezekiel. Check. Where is he?
Demon: I don't know, I—(Phoebe blows up his other foot) Ahhhh! Fine! He's at 10th and Howard, first building on the left, mostly just a bunch of crack houses as a cover.
Phoebe: (nods) Thank you. (She unfreezes him. The demon falls to the ground, tries to get up)
Demon: (looks at Phoebe angrily) Stupid witch! Now I can't walk! (He throws an energy ball at her, which she easily ducks)
Phoebe: Geez, and to think I was going to let you go. (She blows him up) Bad manners are never rewarded.
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(Piper is pacing in the attic. Paige is standing at the book, Leo and Coop are over by the couch with unconscious Phoebe)
Piper: That was the last summoning spell we had. Why won't she wake up!
Paige: Because, it was a summoning spell! I told you it would be useless. I mean, she's right there!
Piper: (through gritted teeth) Paige, we know that her body is right here. We're trying to summon her consciousness.
Paige: Well, it isn't working. (She walks out of the attic)
Piper: (as she goes) Well, your idea about going into her mind didn't exactly work either! (Paige doesn't take the bait and keeps walking. Piper sighs, strides over to Phoebe, and starts smacking her cheek.) Phoebe Halliwell! Wake up right this minute! Or I'll go—
Leo: (pulls Piper away from Phoebe) Honey, you've already tried the smacking technique. Three times now. (He leads her over to a chair, makes her sit down) Please try to relax—
Piper: Relax! You want me to relax! Something is seriously wrong with my sister, and—
Leo: (firmly) you loosing it won't help matters. (Softly) Sweetie, I know it's hard. But you have to try. (He kneels, puts his hands over Piper's, which are resting on her stomach) All this stress isn't good for our baby girl.
Piper: (defeated) I know. Sorry.
Leo: (small smile) Don't worry about it. (He gives Piper a hug)
(Henry walks into the attic, carrying a pad of paper and a pencil, looking very collected and detective-like. Paige follows him in)
Henry: (businesslike) All right, everyone, if I could just have your attention, please. (He clears his throat) We are going to figure out what's wrong with Phoebe. (Flips open the notebook, looks over at Piper) Piper, I'll take your statement first. When did you first get the feeling—
Piper: (sits straight up in her chair) Get the feeling? (She looks up at Leo, who nods)
Leo: It's worth a shot.
Paige: (understands) It is. Why didn't we think of that sooner?
Henry: (sighs and shuts the notebook, speaks to Coop) Do you have any idea what they're talking about?
Coop: (sympathetically) Not a clue.
Piper: (pushes herself out of the chair) The baby! We can use the baby?
Henry: But the baby hasn't even been born yet—(understands) Oh!
Coop: I'm feeling a little out of the loop, here, guys...
Piper: My unborn daughter has Phoebe's power of premonition.
Henry: And since you're still pregnant with her, you can tap into her powers! (He looks at Paige for confirmation) Am I right?
Paige: (smiles lovingly at her husband) You catch on quick.
Henry: (triumphantly) Oh yeah. Mr. Mortal knows a thing or two about magic.
Coop: How do you know she has the power of premonition?
Piper: Long story. (Holds out a hand to Paige) Help me concentrate?
Paige: (takes her hand) Absolutely.
(They start to go to Phoebe. Paige looks at Piper's stomach and speaks to it)
Paige: Okay, little one, you're our saving grace here, let mommy borrow your powers for a minute—(at this, Paige and Piper reach Phoebe, and Paige's free hand brushes Phoebe's shoulder. Paige freezes, caught up in a premonition: Cole kissing Phoebe Premonition over. Paige is stunned. Piper is somewhat incredulous)
Piper: No way. You had the premonition? (Looks down at her stomach) You were supposed to give Mommy the premonition. (Notices her sister, switches tones immediately) Paige? What is it?
Paige: (pale) Oh my...(she drops Piper's hand, kneels besides Phoebe) It can't be...
Henry: (rushes to Paige's side) What can't be?
Paige: (shakes head) It's impossible.
Coop: What's impossible?
Paige: How can you not sense him?
Leo: Who?
Paige: (faint) I saw Cole.
(Stunned silence. Piper looks like she's been slapped, turns away, unnoticed by the rest of the startled group. Henry speaks)
Henry: Cole...wasn't Cole Phoebe's demon ex-husband?
Leo: (alarmed) Try "Source of All Evil" ex-husband.
Coop: But you vanquished him...Phoebe vanquished him. He's not around anymore.
Piper: That Bastard. (A nearby lamp blows up)
(Attention is now on Piper)
Piper: Son of a bitch. Spawn of freakin' Satan!...
(Paige, Henry, and Coop all look at Leo, who steps forward)
Leo: (forced calm) Piper, honey...are you okay?
Piper: (faces her husband, looses temper) Am I okay! No! I am not okay on an epic scale! (She hurries to the BOS, starts flipping through the pages)
(Leo, Paige, Henry and Coop follow her)
Paige: Okay, Piper, whatcha doing—
Piper: (furious) Remember when I got attacked by the thorn demons?
Paige: Yeah.
Piper: I told you that an old friend helped me out while I was there.
Paige: Uh huh...
Piper: I never told you who that "friend" was.
Leo: (cautiously) Who was it?
(Piper looks up from the BOS)
Piper: Cole.
(Leo, Henry, and Coop are speechless. Paige is not)
Paige: WHAT!
Piper: I know, I know. Bad Piper. But in my defense, he was trapped in that plane.
Paige: (seething) HE WAS ALSO "TRAPPED" IN DEMON HELL!
Piper: (getting annoyed) I'm not happy about this either. Look, we'll get him.
Paige: (growling) Damn right we will. Just you wait...he is going to be vanquished for good this time.
Cole's Voice: Talking about me?
(Everyone looks up. Cole is standing over at the other end of the attic.)
Cole: (innocent smile) Surprise!
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I know, I know, that's a horrible way to end a scene, and I do apologize...but I needed to get it written so that I could start to work on the good stuff, and I really wanted to post something...Next scene: Cole and his former in laws enjoy a happy, perfectly cordial little get together. Not.