Chapter 8 - Don't Say Anything

For what seemed to be the thousandth time that evening, Phoebe rejected yet another one of Jason's persistent calls. She inhaled deeply, trying her best not to think too much about it or it would just make her feel guiltier than she already felt. She gently touched one of the two pillows on her bed, painfully noticing how abandoned it has been lately. With a pang of guilt, she realized that she wasn't sure who she wanted to share her bed with anymore.

She was positive that there was no guy who treated her better than Jason did. He was a wonderful lover, a great friend, someone she could always talk to if she needed understanding and, most importantly, someone with no secrets, completely risk-free. Where was the problem then? Who in their right minds would ever pick someone who's hurt you hundreds of times over someone as good as Jason? Could it be that he was indeed too safe for her? After all, she was always known for her impulsiveness and for choosing the most dangerous way to do something. Bad boys were always her type. She was dreaming of a calm and steady relationship and when she had finally got one, why was she sitting all alone in the dark, rejecting her boyfriend's calls and wishing she were single? A couple of weeks earlier, she would have given everything for Jason to call her that often. What happened to her?

Before she had time to think about the answers to all the questions building up inside of her, she heard Paige's scream and then a loud sound of wood cracking. She jumped to her feet and ran outside her room as quick as she could. While running down the stairs in attempt to follow the source of all the commotion, she almost stumbled across Paige who was lying on the stairs unconscious. Her eyes grew wide but she knew she mustn't linger on Paige but go help Piper fight off whatever or whoever was attacking them. Then she saw her sister in the hallway, slowly moving backwards towards the front door while trying to blow up the demon who was calmly advancing towards her, clearly resisting her powers. What Piper was failing to notice was that before she would reach the front door, she'd run into a demon standing behind her, waiting for her to approach him. Phoebe decided to take no time in evening out the forces. She jumped over Paige and ran downstairs. "Piper, behind you!" she yelled while kicking the demon who was previously approaching Piper in the back. He stumbled but didn't fall down as she had expected. Instead, he quickly spun around and threw an athame at her. Phoebe gasped as she didn't notice he had an athame before but managed to throw herself at the couch and remain with nothing but a scratch on her arm. Naturally, the demon didn't wait for her to get up and get into the fighting position but instead hurled a fireball at her while she was still on the couch. For a moment, Phoebe thought she was gone. She had no time to get out of the way, it all happened too fast. She shut her eyes, expecting for a wave of hot acid to burn her skin. However, this never happened. She quickly opened her eyes and realized that her sister froze the time. Just the fact that the demon could resist Piper's powers didn't mean that his fireballs could too. He was staring confused at the fireball for a few seconds which bought Phoebe enough time to jump out of the way and kick him in the chest. He fell down and Phoebe quickly ran and grabbed the athame he threw at her only a minute ago. While focusing all his energy on getting up from the floor, the demon failed to notice that not only was Phoebe up on her feet but also holding his athame, ready to send him to hell where he belonged. Nothing could distract her now... Except for Piper's scream and the sound of glass breaking. She took her eyes off the demon for only a second, but enough to notice the other demon telekinetically hurl two crystal vases at Piper which both hit her straight in the head and she fell to the floor, bleeding unconsciously.

"Piper!" Phoebe cried out and then realized that the demon she was fighting was on his feet. She threw a dagger at him but he deflected it back at her and it ended up sinking into her right arm. She moaned painfully and began slowly moving towards the living room, just like Piper did before towards the front door. She was wounded and outnumbered. Her mind was screaming, her heart was racing and she knew she only had one option - an option she didn't like.

"Cole!" Phoebe shouted from the top of her voice. "Cole, please..."

Suddenly, she saw a familiar blur in front of her as Cole appeared in the hallway, blocking the path between her and the two demons. Before he could even ask what was going on, he received two fireballs in the back, both meant to hit Phoebe instead. This didn't hurt him as much as it enraged him. No one messes with him and no one ambushes Phoebe while he's around. He spun around and threw two fireballs, one at each demon. The demons tried deflecting it but he blocked their powers before they managed to do it and just stood there, watching them burn and finally, explode. He then turned around and saw Phoebe kneeling on the floor, trying to pull the knife out of her bleeding hand. He quickly kneeled next to her.

"Let it go." he said sharply and Phoebe slowly let go of the athame.

He held out his hand and pulled the athame out in the split second by using one of his powers. Phoebe cried out in pain. He touched her chin gently, wishing she didn't have to go through any pain at all. Hell, if she'd allow him to, he'd escape with her somewhere where no one could ever find them, he'd shelter her from all the pain of the world and keep her safe forever. But that was entirely out of the option and he knew it. "Call for Leo." he said slowly as he helped her get up from the floor and rushed to check on Piper who seemed to be in worse condition than Paige.

"Leo!" Phoebe yelled, doing her best to ignore the pain spreading through her arm.

In a swirl of bright orbs, Leo appeared right in front of Phoebe. His eyes widened and he quickly spun around to notice his wife and Paige both unconscious on the ground. He kneeled next to Phoebe quickly and held his hands over her wound, which healed in the matter of seconds. "What happened?" he asked as they both ran over to Piper's side.

"Two demons attacked, Paige was unconscious before I got downstairs and Piper was outnumbered and trapped. When they knocked her out, I called for Cole." Phoebe said while focusing her eyes on Piper and nothing but Piper. She never imagined it would be so hard for her to even be near Cole after what happened between them not that long ago.

"Why didn't you call earlier?" Cole asked, now leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was going to dare to look at him.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to. I thought Piper and I could handle it." Phoebe replied and watched her eldest sister wake up and Leo finally rushed out to help Paige.

"Phoebe, I am supposed to protect you." Cole said slowly. He was angry and frustrated. The love of his life almost got herself killed just because she felt uncomfortable next to him. "How do you expect me to do that if you won't call me when you're attacked?"

"Cole, we only call you when we can't handle it." Phoebe replied sharply.

"I see you could handle this one just fine." he stated sarcastically.

"I thought we could handle it!" Phoebe said, now really annoyed.

"If you had called earlier, I might not have been forced to kill them. We could have trapped them and asked them who they were and why they were attacking you." he said, his eyes still focusing on Phoebe who was stubbornly avoiding eye contact.

"Ouch, what happened?" Paige asked as she woke up and accepted Piper's hand in order to get back on her feet.

"The usual, a bunch of demons attacking. The unusual, they almost kicked our asses." Piper replied. "Phoebe called for Cole in the last second."

"Thanks dude." Paige nodded in Cole's direction.

"No problem." Cole replied. He walked over to Phoebe slowly. "We need to talk." he whispered in her ear.

Phoebe felt the chills going up her spine and closed her eyes. "Not now please." she replied.

"As you wish." Cole replied. "But make it soon because if more of those demons attack, I want to make sure I'm there before you get yourself killed." he said and blurred away without another word.

Phoebe sighed heavily and sank into the armchair next to the grandfather's clock.

"Phoebe..." Piper approached her with curious expression. "What exactly happened between you and Cole while we were gone?"

Phoebe moaned. She wished she could disappear from the face of earth. "Nothing really, we just... We kissed. Well actually, I kissed him."

"Phoebe!" Paige snapped, torn between amusement and annoyance.

"It was the kind of kiss one just doesn't easily forget, you know..." Phoebe said slowly. "I tried avoiding him ever since, I knew he'd bring it up on the first occasion."

"You know he's right though." Leo cut in. "Your avoiding him because of one kiss put all your lives in jeopardy. You need to talk things through with him."

"I can't do that right now." Phoebe said slowly.

"You'll have to sooner or later, Pheebs. Only if you do it sooner, you don't put our lives in danger." Piper said soothingly.

Phoebe nodded and ran her hand through her hair. "Wish me luck." she whispered.

"Want me to orb you there?" Leo asked.

"No, I think I'll drive." Phoebe said and got up from the armchair. She walked over to the hall and grabbed her jacket and her car keys. "If Jason calls, I'm out of town. An emergency or something."

"If Jason calls?" Paige asked in disbelief. "You do realize of course that he's been calling every hour for the past three days?"

"Yeah well, that's the least of my concerns at the moment. You guys check the Book of Shadows, I'll be back as soon as possible."

"No, take your time." Piper said and escorted her sister to the front door.

"Use protection!" Paige added with a grin and Piper chuckled.

"Paige, that is so not funny." Phoebe said in a voice just above a whisper.

"Just go!" Piper pushed Phoebe out to the front porch, trying her best to supress the laughter. "Wait there for one second." she said and rushed off to the kitchen. Phoebe and Paige noticed her return a couple of minutes later with a bag. She handed it over to Phoebe. "Cole said he lives on junk food so here, take him some real food. Could serve its purpose as an opening of your conversation."

Phoebe smiled. "Thanks, I needed something like this."

"Okay but seriously - try not to sleep with him. Won't do you any good." Piper smirked.

Phoebe closed her eyes and felt her heart skip a beat. "I'll do my best." she said and finally spun around and walked towards her car.

-------------------------------

"Phoebe." Cole said in a surprised tone as he saw her standing in his doorframe, looking as if she had appeared there by accident.

"You were right, we need to talk." Phoebe said slowly, noticing how adorable he looked with his messy hair, shirt halfway unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up his strong arms. "And here, I brought you some of Piper's cooking... Seeing how you live on take-out food."

Cole smiled. "Thank her for me please. I really miss her cooking."

Phoebe noticed him turn around and look into the living room. "Come on in please and give me one second." he said.

When Phoebe walked in, she noticed a woman sitting on the sofa in his living room with her long red hair falling down her shoulders and back. She was stunned. She did her best not to look surprised. After all, Cole had the right to live his life as well. "Uh Phoebe, this is Jane Harrison, my colleague from work. We're working on this case but I'm sure we can finish it tomorrow." Cole said and gave Jane the look to understand how much he needed to talk to Phoebe alone.

"Sorry I interrupted this." Phoebe said to both. She felt a wave of relief. They were just colleagues, nothing more.

"It's no problem." Jane smiled pleasantly. "And it's a pleasure to meet you." she held out her hand and Phoebe shook it. "It's not everyday you run into Ask Phoebe."

Phoebe just returned her smile and said nothing.

"Well, I'm gonna go. Cole, I'll search the data base to see if there's anything I can find on Belinda's husband and I'll let you know later." she said. "I can walk myself out." she said and left as quick as she could, eager to leave the two alone to talk.

Cole took a deep breath. "So...?"

"I don't know where to start." Phoebe admitted. "I'm sorry for the way I behaved but I was terribly embarassed, I really don't know where that kiss came from. And if was that kind of kiss that... Well, it's just..."

"Not easily forgotten." Cole finished the sentence for her.

"Right and I knew how awkward it was gonna be seeing you after that so I tried my best to avoid it."

"Which almost resulted with demons killing you." Cole said slowly.

"Yeah." Phoebe looked to the floor and took a deep breath to regain composure. "I'm really sorry, I don't know what to think about you or me or... or how I feel about you."

Cole took the hint easily. He smiled at how sweet and innocent Phoebe looked while trying to work things out between them. "Let's sit down." he offered and Phoebe accepted whole-heartedly.

"It was a kiss." Cole stated the obvious. "We've done a lot worse... or better, depends on how you look at it."

Phoebe bit her lower lip and looked everywhere but at him. She wasn't exactly expecting him to bring up everything else they did while together and it was quite embarassing.

Cole barely refrained from chuckling when he saw her expression. "What I mean is that this was just one out of millions of kisses we shared. It is nothing more than that. And, unless you want to discuss it further, it will remain just that. One out of million kisses. Just one. Nothing unusual, nothing special."

"Except that we shared it when we weren't exactly together." Phoebe corrected him.

Cole cocked his eyebrows at her. "Again, that wouldn't make it the first one of the type." he said and she slipped him a small smile. "If it is too awkward for you to look at it as something more than a kiss, then don't. This is not something that needs special attention, certainly not something worth dying for."

"The problem is you felt it. So have I." Phoebe said slowly.

"I did not feel anything you didn't want me to." Cole smirked at her.

"But just..."

"No buts Phoebe."

"It's just..."

"Phoebe!" Cole cut in with a smile. "We've spent the past five minutes discussing one kiss."

"Not like it was insignificant." Phoebe replied.

"Ah so did it mean anything to you?" Cole challenged.

"Did it mean anything to you?" Phoebe questioned back.

"You know it did and I asked first." Cole said in low voice, smile still lingering on his lips. "Did it?"

"I have to go." Phoebe replied.

"That says more than a yes would. I know you, I know exactly what each of your 'I-have-to-goes' means." Cole said calmly.

Phoebe stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around to look at her ex husband.

"What?" Cole asked cautiously.

"You really think you know me that well, Cole?" Phoebe asked as she approached him.

"As the matter of fact, I do."

"Then you must have seen this coming." Phoebe stated and captured his lips in a soft, gentle kiss which Cole clearly wasn't expecting at all. He stepped back after a couple of seconds, cleared his throat and cocked his eyebrows at her.

"Don't say anything." she whispered, turned around and left the penthouse in a hurry.