Chapter 8: Death Takes a Halliwell Part 2

'Sitting in a car for 16 hours isn't quite hell on Earth but it's close,' Phoebe thought sourly as she fidgeted in her seat. She and Piper were observing the funeral of Davidson's partner, Andrea, which Davidson himself was attending. The sisters had been unable to stop him from leaving the manor without leaving a few of their own morals behind. Besides, people would have come looking for him. Letting him go had made everyone nervous, but they figured he wouldn't tell anyone about his experiences—yet—because he figured no one would believe him.

Right now, Phoebe was on the phone with Cole and he was telling her about her sister's prolonged absence. Prue had left right after they had, and she should have been back by now. But, as Cole informed her, no one was there.

"I'm going out of my mind," he proclaimed.

"Try sitting in a car for 16 hours," Phoebe snorted.

"No sign of any demons?" Cole asked.

"No, not yet. But Davidson led us to a, uh…" Phoebe thought the better of telling him they were at a funeral. He was already worried enough about her, he didn't need the reminder that another woman had recently been killed by the demons they hunted.

"To a what?"

"Never mind. If Prue comes back, tell her to call us. I love you." Phoebe hung up. She couldn't afford to be distracted, not when she was supposed to be paying such close attention from a distance. "Okay, so now what?"

Piper sighed tiredly. "Well, we can't crash the funeral. I guess we just watch from here."

"I don't understand," Phoebe commented. "You tell a guy that Death is after him and he goes to a cemetery. How smart is that?" Well, maybe he hadn't been as panicked as they thought. Davidson might have thought, from the brief amount of time he had spent with Cole, that a cemetery was a safe place for him.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

Phoebe's heart skipped a beat as Piper suddenly pointed and they watched the two seekers walk up to the helpless man. Climbing out of the Jeep, they watched in surprise as Davidson remained dignified and followed the two murderers away from the funeral. He had to know that he was walking to his own execution; he must have wanted to spare everyone else the agony. Phoebe had to admit; now she admired him a little.

Moving quickly, she and Piper followed the trio to a church. Phoebe realized, with chilling certainty, that this was the place she had seen in her vision. To make matters worse, when she and Piper tried to get in, they couldn't. The door was jammed.

Instead, they pounded and pulled on the door. Gunshots rang out inside as Davidson opened fire on his attackers. "Reese!" they shouted. His bullets were just as effective as their shouting, which was to say, ineffective at best. The bullets passed harmlessly through one of the seekers.

"Reese, get out of there!" Phoebe shouted.

"Run!" Piper screamed.

Even if Reese had heard them, there was little chance he could have acted on their pleas. The two seekers approached him, looking like hunters closing in on their hapless prey. There was nothing anyone could do.

At least, that was what they thought until Prue arrived. Phoebe jumped as her oldest sister materialized on the other side of the door without warning, and her hopes soared…before they crashed. The scene in the church played out exactly as she had seen in her vision. The seeker sank his fangs into the Davidson's brain stem, killing him instantly, and Prue turned away, unable to watch. Just like Phoebe had seen, her sister did nothing to stop the murder that occurred right in front of her.

Satisfied, the seekers disappeared, and Prue did nothing to stop them.

At that moment, the object that was blocking their entry finally gave way and Piper and Phoebe burst in. Davidson's prone form was lying on the floor, never to rise again. And Prue…Prue was just standing there, looking sorrowful and defeated. Well, she should. She had lost their innocent, which she had promised would not happen.

"Are you okay?" Phoebe demanded.

Prue wouldn't look at her. "I don't know."

"Did the demons do something to you?" Phoebe questioned.

"No."

"How did you even get in here?" It hadn't looked like she has astralled in.

"Death brought me."

Well, that was unexpected. "I'm sorry," Phoebe said quietly. She knew how much Prue hated Death.

"You know, I don't completely understand it myself," Prue began. And she didn't. She didn't understand why, after having watched an innocent man die, she…wasn't as angry at Death as she had been over the last 23 years.

"Prue, how can you stand there and let him die?" Piper wanted to know, slightly aghast.

"Because it was his time, alright," Prue snapped. "I wanted to save him but I couldn't."

"You didn't even try," Piper accused.

Prue did not respond to her. Instead, she knelt down beside the fallen man and, to her sisters' everlasting astonishment, began to cry. "I'm sorry," she whispered, tears dripping down her face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Trading glances, Piper and Phoebe stepped forward and pulled their sister away from the body and the crime scene. They couldn't be spotted here; there was nothing they could do, so they needed to go home. On the way back, Phoebe tried to call Cole, to update him on the situation.

There was no answer. No matter how many times she called, there was no answer.

"Should I astral there?" Prue asked.

"I think we should stick together," Piper replied grimly. The seekers knew something; if they knew something, that meant the sisters, and everyone on their side, was more vulnerable.

Phoebe gripped her seat in preparation. She ordered, "Faster."

Piper floored it.

XXX

The phone rang, and Cole walked back into the foyer to answer it. Phoebe must have an update for him. Had they vanquished the seekers?

No, they had not. Said seekers appeared right in front of him as he reached for the phone. Cole quirked an eyebrow. "Ever hear of a doorbell?"

The first seeker quipped, "We thought we'd surprise you." And then they jumped him.

Cole barely even noticed it when the fight moved into the living room. Not caring what Piper would think, he smashed an antique lamp over one of the seekers' heads, sending the demon crashing into a table. The other seeker, however, was still up and running—right at Cole, who threw him off when the seeker's fangs got a little too close for comfort. The energy ball he fired went astray, and destroyed a fixture instead. Undaunted, the seeker once again lunged at his prey. This time, they were the ones who crashed into a table. Cole heard, rather than felt, his head hitting the wood, and the world around him went black.

Those moments he spent fighting would have been his last moments on Earth if his saviors hadn't arrived at that very moment. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe stormed into the manor, Prue and Phoebe leaping into the fray while Piper went to Cole. Thankfully, his loss of consciousness was only momentary, and she began pulling the dazed man to his feet.

"Okay, come on, come on," she urged, and Cole slowly gained his feet and watched the scene before him. Apparently, the sisters had the situation well in hand and his help would not be needed. Having temporarily dealt with her foe and seeing her boyfriend on his feet, Phoebe abandoned her fight and made her way back over to them.

"Cole," she breathed.

"I'm fine," he assured her. Reassured, Phoebe went to stand beside Piper. Realizing what they were about to do, Cole turned towards the eldest sister, who was still beating the hell out of her opponent. "Prue," he called, and to his surprise, she looked at him. He gestured to her sisters. "Don't."

Prue needed no other encouragement. She joined her sisters, and prepared to end it once and for all. Phoebe had pulled out the spell, and they gathered close, chanting,

"Knowledge gained by murderous means

Is wisdom's bitter enemy.

The mind that burns with stolen fire

Will now become your funeral pyre!"

All four watched in relief and grim satisfaction as their enemy was engulfed in flames. Once they had fully disappeared, Phoebe wasted no time in going back over to Cole. She drew his face down to hers and kissed him soundly. Cole gladly and fervently returned the gesture. They were safe. She was safe, and that was all that mattered to him.

Prue surveyed the burn marks on the floor, and looked back at her sister and her sister's demonic boyfriend. "Well, at least we saved one," she commented softly.

Astounded and overjoyed, Phoebe pulled back slightly. Cole looked at her, equally shocked and a little bit proud of himself. "Wow, did you hear that?" Phoebe breathed. "You just reached innocent status."

'Notquite,' Cole thought. He had done too many evil things in his life to ever be one of their innocents. But it was close enough. Cole knew he had hit an important milestone, in bridging the gap between himself and his lover's oldest sister and in joining her family. For that, he was happy.

They didn't kiss again, but the couple did not separate even when Leo arrived and explained why he had not been able to help them. Prue had needed to learn the lesson by herself, he revealed. And she had learned it. The hard way. Phoebe watched as her sister excused herself, likely to think about everything that had just happened. Phoebe wanted to anything but. "Come on," she whispered, pulling on Cole's hand. He willingly followed her up to her room, and they gladly shut the door on the rest of the world.

To Phoebe's disappointment, Cole wasn't ready to let the events of the day go, yet. As soon as he was sure nobody could hear them, he confessed, "Phoebe, I'm going to be a danger to the baby."

At least he didn't beat around the bush. Phoebe didn't plan to, either. "That may be true," she had to admit. "But we still need you. You'll need to teach her to control the powers she inherited from you."

She?

Phoebe and Cole looked at each other, smiles appearing on both of their faces as they realized that this was the first time they had actually referred to their baby—their daughter—as a girl and not an 'it.' Together, they envisioned what their little girl would look like. Would she look more like Phoebe? Or more like Cole? It didn't matter. What mattered was that she was theirs, and they would take care of her to the best of her ability.

"You know," Phoebe sounded a little pensive, an entirely different sort of smile crossing her features. Cole felt himself come to attention. There was no way any man could avoid that look. "I've heard that sex is good for the baby…and after the day we've had…"

Indeed.

XXX

Late the next morning, Prue crept into the house, not wanting to disturb anyone. Piper's car was gone but Phoebe or Leo or even Cole might be there. The day after a tough vanquish was usually spent catching up on z's, and she wanted to begrudge no one that particular gift. Prue, herself, though, had not partaken in it. She had spent her morning at the beach, a place she had once hated, talking to a being she had once hated. Death was not evil, she knew that now, she just…didn't know what to think. He had finally made her do what no one else had ever done: cry over her mother's death. It had not felt good. But Prue knew she had needed it. Now she needed a glass of water before she moved on to her other plans for the day.

"Morning, Prue."

Prue jumped as she entered the kitchen. Phoebe was there, and she appeared to be alone.

"Hey," she returned awkwardly. "Um, how's Cole?"

Phoebe looked slightly surprised, but she covered it up. "Good. He left a few minutes ago. He said he was coming back tonight, I think he has something planned."

Something planned? Prue didn't want to think about that. "Hey, Pheebs, are you doing anything today?"

"No, why?"

"Well, I was…I was thinking we could go shopping this morning." Prue had been doing a lot of thinking today. She knew that she and Phoebe needed to talk. What better way to have a sisterly talk and finish mending fences than to do it over racks of new clothes?

Once again, Phoebe was surprised. Prue wanted to go on a shopping trip with her? Ah, that must mean she was ready to talk. Which meant it was probably time for that talk. Phoebe couldn't put it off any longer. She tried not to squirm; they needed to do this. "Sure. Just let me get my purse."

A mere five minutes later, they were climbing into Prue's car and on their way to the mall. Phoebe glanced at her older sister. Prue had had a rough few days, and she was bound to be feeling the effects of that. "How are you feeling?"

Prue shrugged. "Better." And she was. That just wasn't what she wanted to talk about. Prue cut right to the chase. "You've decided to keep the baby, haven't you," she stated, rather than asked, quietly.

This time, Phoebe didn't bother to hide her shock. Of all things, she had not expected Prue to bring this up right now, all on her own. She had thought shewould have to be the one to address it. But it appeared that she was going to be spared that particular pain, and Phoebe found herself nodding. "Yes," she confirmed, somewhat shakily as she watched for a negative reaction. There was none, so she plowed on, "Okay, I know that you're worried about it, but it'll be okay, I promise, and I talked to Grams about it and…"

"Phoebe, you're babbling," Prue interrupted.

Oh. Yes. She was. Phoebe stopped talking.

Prue took a deep breath. This was one of the those things she had spent a lot of time thinking about last night and this morning, and she had reached a decision. "It's okay with me," she announced.

Phoebe could swear that her heart stopped once again, but not out of horror. No, it was for completely the opposite reason: joy. Well, shock and then joy, but still joy. That joy was tinged with disbelief. Prue was okay with her keeping the baby? Hadn't she been the one most ardently against it? When had that changed?

She voiced that question aloud, and Prue thought about it. "Maybe learning to accept one thing, Death, is helping me accept others," she finally decided. "Maybe realizing that Death, which I have hated all my life, is not evil helped me realize that…Cole isn't necessarily evil, either." She glanced at Phoebe, before looking back at the road. "It's more like everyone is a product of how they were raised."

Cole had been raised evil. But this baby, his daughter, would not be. Phoebe and Cole's little girl would be raised in a family that loved her and would teach her the virtues of good over evil. Phoebe was…elated. For the first time since she had found out she was pregnant, her entire family was finally happy for her.

"I think I was jealous," Prue admitted, and Phoebe looked at her. "That was part of my problem accepting the baby and your relationship with Cole. I mean, I'm the oldest, and it's selfish, but sometimes I feel like I should get to do some things first. But Piper got married for real first and you're going to have a baby first."

Phoebe nodded. She had suspected this might be part of the problem, ever since she had spoken to Prue's ID last week.

"I think I subconsciously realized it at the rehearsal dinner," Prue continued, thinking back over the past two weeks. "I just didn't really process it. It was a lot to take in."

"And that was when the dreams started."

"Yep." Prue pulled into the JCPenney's parking lot and found a spot right in front of the store. As they went in, she admitted, "It'll take me a little time before I'm completely comfortable with all of this. However," she turned to face Phoebe, a real smile on her face. "I want to make up for the way I've been acting."

Phoebe started to say she didn't need to, but Prue pointed at a sign and Phoebe realized what section of the store they had entered through. Prue held up a t-shirt. She said, "I want to buy you your first maternity top."