Vision Within a Vision
The pair shared a quiet meal that night. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Phoebe felt fine and Coop didn't even notice the small bandage on her left arm. They did the dishes together and curled up to watch an old favorite black and white film of Phoebe's.
"Love you," Coop whispered in her ear when they finally headed to bed.
"You too," she murmured, curling up against his torso.
The following morning came too early for Phoebe. The alarm blared louder than usual and had to smack a couple times to turn it off. She groaned as she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She looked down at her arm. It felt a little stiff but she figured that was probably normal. She stumbled towards the bathroom and into the shower. The hot water made her feel a little better at least. Half an hour later she woke Coop up to say goodbye.
"Have a good day," he mumbled, kissing her lightly on the lips.
"You too," she called as she rushed out the front door, mug of coffee in her hand. She jumped int her car and pulled into the early morning San Francisco traffic. She got stuck at a stop light behind a large dump truck.
"Oh come on!" she yelled at the eyesore in front of her as it slowly lurched forward a few more inches.
She checked the clock on the dash and realized she was going to be late. She honked her horn several times and that seemed to finally motivate the truck driver to go faster. Once clear of the truck, Phoebe pressed down hard on the gas and sped up the street, pulling a dangerously fast turn into the parking lot. She came to a halt in her parking spot and jumped out of the car. Moments later she was stepping out of the elevator and nearly collided with Elise.
"Morning, Elise," Phoebe greeted.
"Why are you in such a hurry today?" her boss asked.
"Didn't want to be late," Phoebe answered, a little out of breath.
"Well just take it easy ok. Finish your coffee, catch your breath. You've got plenty of time," Elise assured her. With a nod, Phoebe headed for her office. She sat down in her computer chair and took a few breaths. She downed her coffee in a couple of gulps and turned to her computer. She logged on but it was as if the screen was moving back and forth; the text was blurry. She blinked a few times and went in search of her glasses.
"Much better," she sighed as she scrolled through the six pages of emails filling her inbox. Forty minutes later she was staring at the letters on her desk. She picked one up and was in the process of opening it when she was suddenly pulled into a promotion. It wasn't like any premonition she had ever had before.
She saw herself opening the envelope and being pulled into the same promotion over and over again. It was as if she was looking into a bank of mirrors, her reflection getting smaller and smaller.
Just as she was pulling out of it she saw everything before her go completely black. When she finally woke up she found she had slumped against her desk. Her head was pounding her she felt queasy. She looked around and the world seemed to spin before her. She clutched the edge of her desk and just as she tried to focus the door opened and Elise walked in.
"Phoebe, you look awful. Are you alright?" she asked, sounding worried. Sweat was pouring off Phoebe like rain.
"I…I think I need to go home," she got out through several gasps.
'Do I need to call an ambulance?" Elise questioned.
"I'll…call my husband," Phoebe muttered and Elise shut the door. Phoebe closed her eyes, focusing as best she could. He must have heard her because he appeared and wrapped his arms around her.
"What happened?" he demanded of her, trying to get his wife to her feet.
'I…don't know," she rasped. He finally resolved to scoop her up into his arms.
"You need to go the hospital," he said.
"No….Paige…Manor," she mumbled. He understood and disappeared. He rematerialized in the Manor and laid her on the couch in the sun room.
"Piper!" he called out. The voice that answered wasn't his sister-in-law.
"She's at the restaurant," Billie said, walking in from the kitchen.
"Oh...Hi Billie," he said.
"I'm watching Chris…pink eye and all. Is something wrong?" the blond replied.
"Phoebe needs Paige. Do you know where she is?" the Cupid explained.
"No…I don't. You could try her cell phone," Billie suggested just as the front door opened and Piper walked in.
'Coop," she said, startled to see her brother-in-law.
"Hi. Look…I'm going to call Paige and you just…watch Phoebe," he instructed Piper. She looked confused but followed his hand into the sun room.
"What the hell happened?" Piper exclaimed, noting her sister's feverish condition.
"I have no idea," Coop answered, as he heard the other end of the phone ring.
"Paige. Hi, it's Coop. We need you back at the Manor. Phoebe needs to be healed," he explained all in one breath.
Immediately the room was filled with blue and white orbs, depositing Paige. She looked around her frantically until she spotted Phoebe on the couch.
"Did a demon attack her?" she asked.
'We have no idea. She just called for me and I showed up and she looked like this," Coop murmured. Paige bent down and held her hands over her sister. She concentrated all the love she could muster and her hands began to glow over her sister's sweat-covered body. Nothing seemed to happen.
"Come on Phoebe," Paige whispered. Footsteps moved away from them as Piper headed upstairs. She returned with Wyatt trailing after her.
"Maybe Wyatt can help," she suggested. Wyatt took hold of Paige's outstretched hand and together they turned back to Phoebe. Both of their hands glowed but still she did not heal.
'I don't get it. Why won't she heal," Paige groaned. It was then that Piper noticed the bandage on Phoebe's left arm.
'What's that?" she asked, turning to look at Coop.
"I have no clue," he answered and pealed the band aid away. The needle mark was still visible.
"Did she inject herself with something?" Paige gasped.
"It looks like it," Piper murmured.
"I didn't see her take anything…of course she was in the bedroom for a while yesterday when I was making dinner," Coop breathed, suddenly feeling guilty.
"Don't blame yourself. You didn't know," Paige said, trying to comfort him.
"Well if you can't heal her…maybe the Elders can," Piper said.
"You….want Elders…here," Paige snorted.
"Well if they can save Phoebe...yes," Piper remarked.
"Ok," Paige mumbled.
"Hey…I know you can hear me. Look…we need a little help down here," Piper shouted at the ceiling. Blue and white lights appeared and Sandra appeared.
"What do you need?" she asked.
"You need to heal Phoebe," Piper ordered. Sandra moved to stand over Phoebe and used her own healing touch but still Phoebe's condition did not change. She frowned slightly as she backed away.
"I'm afraid what is making her sick is not something that magic can fix," she said somberly.
"Then what the hell can fix it?" Paige asked.
"I don't know the answer to that," Sandra said apologetically and disappeared again. Just as the Elder disappeared, Phoebe's eyes opened for a moment. She took in her surroundings.
"Hi sweetie. We need you to tell us what you did…that made you so sick," Piper said, trying to make Phoebe talk.
"Shot," she rasped, sounding delirious.
"No sweetie. You haven't been shot," Paige murmured, stroking her sister's sweaty hair.
"No…shot…" Phoebe babbled, trying to point to her arm.
"You gave yourself a shot…ok um…what was the shot?" Piper said, trying to coax the information out of her sibling.
"Pr…pro…" she rasped but couldn't get the word.
"Premonition? You had a premonition about getting a shot?" Paige tried but Phoebe vaguely shook her head.
Suddenly the TV flicked on a news broadcast appeared. A man with long hair and beard was talking about making a better world. The word promicin came up several times. Each time the word was mentioned, Phoebe's breathing grew ragged.
"Promicin?" Piper asked and Phoebe did her best to nod. Paige's eyes widened and she dragged Piper away.
"Do you know what this means?" Paige asked in a whisper.
"No," Piper said flatly.
"Phoebe took that shot that people are handing out…to gain special abilities," Paige explained.
"Why would she do that? She's got powers already," Piper scoffed.
"I don't know…maybe…she doesn't have any active powers. Maybe she was trying to get them back somehow?" Paige suggested. Piper tapped her chin. It had some logic to it. But Phoebe knew that her powers would eventually be given back when she had proven she could use them without being selfish.
"So how does this help us save her?" Piper finally asked.