Chapter 21 – A Secret Never To Be Told.
A few weeks later, Steffi was alone, pottering around her kitchen humming her daughter's nursery rhyme to herself.
"One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold…"
"…Seven for a secret never to be told," finished a male voice from behind her. Steffi jumped slightly.
"Phil, don't creep up on me like that!" She turned round to continue her lecture, and took a step back in shock. It was not Phil. It was, in fact, Cole. An unshaven, dishevelled Cole, who smelt as if he'd been on a major bender. Her assumption was correct.
"Not quite who you were expecting?" Cole said, or rather slurred, and he swayed on the spot slightly.
"Mmm. Come and sit down." She guided him over to the kitchen table, and sat him down. "Jesus Cole, you stink! What have you been doing?" She made him a quick sandwich with some cold beef, and gave it to him.
"I've been out drinking with some people… and then they left so I carried on drinking. Whassis?" He took a cautious bite and found it was edible.
"You speak worse than my four year old, you look like a tramp, and you smell like the inside of an ass. It's a sandwich, to help soak up the alcohol. I don't reckon you've had anything to eat recently, have you?"
"Fankoop for your compiliments. And yesh, I have. I had a kebab about… two days ago."
"Jesus!" Steffi was clearly shocked at the appearance of her old flame, and began to spritz him with some perfume she conjured.
"Whazzat? It stinks!"
"It's Oscar de la Renta, and it's bloody expensive, so shut up and get spritzed." Cole sat in silence as Steffi quickly coated him in the perfume. Once she was done, she began to make him another sandwich.
"What's in this?" Cole asked eventually.
"Well at least you're starting to sound human even if you neither smell or look like one… its beef. I did a roast dinner yesterday, and we had some left over. I sent Grace and Phil off with beef sandwiches; I hope they like them you know."
"Oh, so you're still with that pansy?"
"He is not a pansy! He's sweet, gentle, caring, and a better man than you'll ever be!" Cole looked hurt.
"Sorry. Why aren't you at work then?"
"Tom's away for a while, so I don't have to go in. There's an automatic answering machine. Why aren't you at work?" Cole shrugged.
"It's boring. Not enjoyable at all."
"You don't have to enjoy work to do it." Steffi grabbed a piece of kitchen paper and ran it under the tap a moment, before starting to clean the grime from his face. Cole pulled a face as she worked the grime out of his premature wrinkles, and relaxed when she was finally done.
"So why do you do it?"
"Because we feel bound by some duty or another. Or because we made a promise to someone a long time ago, and it doesn't matter what's happened in between, because you've got to stick to your word. Time after time."
"I get the feeling we aren't talking about work anymore."
"Mmm." Steffi conjured a comb and began to gently tease the matted mass of Cole's hair back into its normal groomed state. Cole closed his eyes and let her do as she pleased, and let his mind wander back to when this wouldn't have been in such formal conditions; when they would stumble in after a night's drunken revelling and worry about tomorrow when it came. Now Steffi was so changed… she was a mother, a wife, a sister, and Cole wanted to say a lover. His lover. But it was not the case.
"Steffi… you once told me that love always goes by the book; that you make your own destiny."
"Oh honey, I wrote that book."
"So it doesn't mean anything?"
"Of course it does… but I'm different now. You're different now."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, not so long ago, things would've been reversed, wouldn't they? I mean, I would be the one sat there trying to sober up, and you would be the one talking about children and responsibility. It just goes to show that I was wrong when I wrote that book. Sure, you make your own destiny; but you have to see it through. I can't see mine through."
"I thought you had. You've got a beautiful daughter, another child on the way, a loving husband, and I still have feelings for you. And I think that you still have them for me."
"Cole, I really have tried to forget that… you should too. You can't hang onto our past like this."
"I always will… which is why I think I came. I want you to come back to San Francisco with me. I want us to start again."
A/N and Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of the characters.
Well, I know you're simply dying to know what happens next. But I'm going to let you decide what happens to Steffi, Cole, Phil and Grace, because this my friends is the end of my story. Thank you for reading, and I'll be back soon! If you would like to suggest a better ending for this story, suggestions and criticisms are always welcome.