Chapter 6: Heterogeneity

Paige stomped a foot and cursed herself when she saw the empty bed. There was a good reason why she'd decided to sleep next to him, once he'd shimmer away she could keep no track of him and could openly admit failure in front of his sisters. However, she could see that the balcony door was open and all she had to do was follow the sound of loud cursing. Because she couldn't orb outside in case somebody saw it, Paige leaped, hoping Cole didn't have a too sinister of a reason to swear. She almost swore herself by the balcony doorway, it wasn't exactly a sight that would've went down very well with bystanders, she just had to hope nobody was looking up.

Cole was leisurely sitting on the edge of the railing on the twentyfifth floor of the building, turning a bottle of whisky upside down and showing her he had nothing else left to drink, thus the particular unhappiness to the moment. "What says my guardian angel? Can I shimmer down to the store for some more, or you volunteer?" He asked with a demeanor that let her know of the reason why the bottle was empty, when it was half full the day before when she happened to glance out to the balcony.

"How about a no? I think drinking makes you even more depressed."

Cole jumped back down, ready to shimmer. He certainly did need no permission from a whilelighter/witch hybrid to drown his sorrows in alcohol, no matter what time of the day it was. Not as if he was able to get indigestion or anything and even if he would've been. He could see the blur of his own shimmering and wanted to give Paige a last provoking look before he pissed off getting pissed some place where nobody would bother him, like inside some automated space station circling the Earth.

It wasn't her "wait please," but the look in her eyes that stopped him. It wasn't Phoebe's denial, it wasn't Piper's high horse, Prue's questions, or even Paige's previous suspicion. Did he read it right? Were her eyes desperate, pleading and sad? Was her glance softly caressing his face, sorry for him then anything else?

He couldn't believe it, but if there was some chance of a witch, a random human being holding out her hand for him, providing some sort of comfort in his pointless life, could he deny himself that luxury? He'd been aching for something like this all his life beyond belief and that caring look was the very incorporation of what he'd been wanting, seeking for so long. If she will give it to him, if only for a moment, his needy soul could find some rest for a while. He did shimmer, but only down into a sitting position by the wall, where he slumped down, his forehead in his palm. He closed his vision to the world, if he was wrong about her caring for him, he didn't want to see it.

Paige slowly walked close to him, knelt down and gently moved his hand out from the way of her seeing his face. "I'm here to help, remember? I hope you let me. I promise you can trust me." She nodded, trying to convey as much convincing power in her voice as she possibly could.

"What makes you think you can? My heritage is being a demon and nothing can change that. Such a half creant, I should've never been born, it was obvious I could never be happy or belong anywhere."

Paige shook her head, "all you have to do is convince me you are in control of your powers and not them over you and I'll convince the others. I can't promise anything about Phoebe and her inability for self reflection, but at least she won't be hell bent on vanquishing you."

"That good?" Cole repressed a humph.

"Apart from the confusion it causes when she's concentrated on only one thing? Yes, it is," she leaned close to him, putting a hand on one of his knees.

Cole looked up and found that their faces were close, just as close as in the middle of the night when he woke up with her practically lying on the top of him. Her shapely mouth in his direct vision, he wanted to kiss her so much at this moment in time. He was well aware of where the feeling came from, he'd always had a tendency to equate comfort with love. Right now though the knowledge of that didn't matter. Even if he knew that it wasn't right, even if it'd backfire, he simply couldn't deny himself the momentary illusion that he was being given the love he'd been deprived of for so long. More like a spectator in his own body, he felt himself tilt his head so that their lips could touch, driven by a need beyond anything cognizant, then more consciously brushed his lips along hers quickly, awaiting the kiss to be ended by her, a slap to his face, or more so being temporarily blown to pieces by her orbing into him in anger, just as she did with the piano the day before. Instead, her hand came up and round his shoulders and her lips parted, allowing him entrance. For a few seconds, there were no disturbing feelings, no thoughts, all desires fulfilled by a moment of ignorant bliss.

Paige virtually stopped breathing at the sensation of the little bumps on his tongue tingling her lips. Her mind was sending her warning signals this was way past obliging, way past the comfort that was her intention. But he needed this too, didn't he? There was one place he was injured several times and unless those wounds healed in his soul, her plan of brining him back to a state of normalcy was doomed. She let her body relax, curve to him and allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of his strong hands pressing her to him.

It was Cole, who finally pulled back, head down, not daring to look at her again directly. Nothing was said, Paige was staring more into herself than anywhere else, trying to figure out what was her part in what just happened and how she felt about it.

After a while of uncertainly, Cole risked a glance, peering out from under his eyebrows like a child who knew he'd done something wrong and punishment was expected. As judgment wasn't passed yet, he just had to wait and see.

Tbc