Part Five
January 12, 2003 – late evening
"Why isn't it working?" Phoebe fretted.
Cole gently pulled her back and whispered in her ear, "Let him work, sweetie. She was badly injured."
"You can't call me 'sweetie,'" she reminded him even as she unconsciously leaned back against him.
"You," Piper pointed to Cole, "away from her. Now."
Cole shot her a look but moved away from Phoebe, due more to his not wanting to push Phoebe too far than due to Piper's implied threat.
"Who is she?" Paige inquired in an accusatory tone.
"Oh, you're out of jail?"
"Trumped up charge, as if you didn't know," she sniped back.
She didn't know the half of it, Cole thought. If his plan hadn't been interrupted, he would have killed the driver of the other car and Paige would be facing far worse than hit and run.
"She's an innocent. Why can't you heal her?" Phoebe's tone was tinged with hysteria.
"Innocent," Cole mumbled to himself before focusing on his daughter. She had interrupted his plans to kill an innocent. "Phoebe, I think I know why --"
"It's not meant to be," Leo quietly announced as he stood and stepped away from the bed. "I can't heal her."
"What? No, you have to!" Phoebe shoved him back to her daughter. "Try again." She indicated to Paige. "Help him! You've done it before."
Cole held onto Phoebe, stopping her from pummeling Leo.
"Let me go," Phoebe struggled against his grip.
"Mama?"
Cole's grip immediately loosened and Phoebe pushed past Leo to settle at her daughter's side. As she held one of her daughter's hands, she caught sight of Cole reaching for the other as he knelt next to the bed. "I'm here, it's okay."
He lightly kissed the back of her hand. "You'll be fine, sweetheart."
"So dark…"
Cole immediately waved his free hand and illuminated the room. "Better?"
"Can't see…Mama?"
"Mama?" Piper repeated. The first time Phoebe had reacted, Piper had assumed she was merely trying to comfort the girl but now…"What's going on?"
Paige turned to her older sister, "Phoebe, just who is this girl?"
But Phoebe ignored her sisters and choked back a sob. "I'm here, honey, I'm here. Can you feel me holding your hand? You're safe. I'm here."
"Demons…Bianca first," Penny warned, gasping for breath. "Family…all gone…only me left…" She squeezed her parents hands and burst into tears with energy she didn't quite have.
"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay, we won't let anything happen…" Tears were now spilling down Phoebe's cheeks.
"Who started it?" Cole asked intently. "Can you tell us?"
"Not now," Phoebe pleaded.
"She came to warn us," he patiently reminded her. "We need to know or everything she hoped to accomplish will have been for nothing."
"Ryan tried," Penny weakly told them. "Honest…good, Mama…loves me."
"Of course he does," Phoebe soothed.
"Only half-demon," Penny murmured, "loves me…"
Phoebe exchanged looks with a surprised Cole but tried to calm her daughter, "It's okay, sweetie, I'm not upset. Your love is real."
"Mama's right," Cole added, the word flowing easily from his lips and sounding so right, "you loved each other. Think of him now. He'd want you to save your strength so the healing potion can work."
"Warned me but," Penny coughed, "couldn't stop Drayful…got Bianca…"
"Hush, sweetheart, we'll change it," Cole promised, kissing her hand again. "We'll make sure it never comes true."
Phoebe stroked her daughter's forehead and lightly placed a kiss there. "Shhhh, it's okay…it's okay." She glanced at Cole, "Drayful?"
Cole nodded, "A demon I used to know, one who I was thinking of approaching again."
"Well you'd better," Phoebe warned, "by taking care of him just like you did Dex and Kaia."
"You do that," Piper finally interrupted, "while we take Phoebe and the girl back to the manor."
"Phoebe and I have unfinished business. Besides, our daughter," he emphasized, "isn't stable enough to be moved."
"What unfinished business? She hates you," Paige reminded him. "End of story."
"Hate's only breath away from love," Penny whispered.
"What?" Phoebe gasped. She'd only heard the phrase for the first time that day.
"You taught me…Daddy?"
"I'm here," Cole replied in a choked voice. He knew she was slipping away and felt powerless to stop it.
"So cold…"
While Phoebe gathered their daughter into her arms, Cole moved so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his arms around them both. With a slight wave of his hand, a ring of fire surrounded them. "Better, sweetheart?"
Penny couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and was barely able to smile, "Yes, Daddy…tell me --"
Cole nearly panicked when she stopped speaking mid-sentence. "Tell you what, sweetheart?"
"'Bout Mama…love her…"
Cole glanced at Phoebe but replied in a choked voice, "I love her because she is everything. She completes me in ways I never thought needed completion. She is light and love and passion and --"
"Match in heaven," Penny sighed.
"Not exactly," Cole and Phoebe responded simultaneously. But their cautious smiles turned disappeared the instant they felt their daughter go limp.
Phoebe rocked her daughter, "No…" She hugged her daughter tighter, leaning into Cole's embrace as she cried.
"What the hell is going on?" Piper whispered to Paige when the girl's body suddenly disappeared and then the flames vanished.
"I don't know," Paige replied with annoyance when Phoebe wrapped her arms around Cole as she cried. "But we're going home. Now." And she immediately touched Phoebe's arm and orbed them both from the bedroom leaving Piper and Leo behind.
"Fix it," Piper demanded of him. "Everything you've done to us, I want it erased. The suspension, the inspection, the arrest, I want it all off our records, as if they never happened." She reached for Leo's hand and spoke once more, "The girl was right, Cole, about love and hate. Phoebe's still hurting. See you don't hurt her anymore."
Cole acknowledged Piper's "request" with a curt nod before they orbed away leaving him alone.
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