Heaven's Mistaken Gift
by: Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell
Co-written by: That70sShoLova
Chapter 6: Adjusting
Phoebe chatted happily all the way while on their little furniture hunting trip. "I want her room to be pink! Oh Jared, can we paint it pink? We'll paint it pink. A pale pink though. Maybe a pastel."
Jared clenched his fists around the steering wheel, trying not to choke her. His knuckles turned white and he felt the wheel crack under the pressure. He uncurled his fingers and sent icy glares onto the road.
Cole sat in the back, silently laughing his ass off, but still hanging onto every word Phoebe uttered. "What if you put polka dots in it?" he suggested.
"That'd be so pretty!" Phoebe squealed. "But we should save that for when she's older. The bright colors might be a little distracting. Gentle colors are the way to go."
"Hardwood or carpet?" Cole questioned, truly intrigued.
Jared almost strangled him. He looked in the mirror and gave his friend a menacing glare.
Cole ignored it.
"Definitely hardwood." Phoebe nodded. "Oh, but that might be dangerous, so carpet."
"What if she stains it though?" he asked.
"Oh, this is a dilemma." But then her mind switched to another topic, almost like a pregnant woman's cravings. "I was thinking that we could get those pretty wooden carvings of letters hanging over her head. They could spell her name, in light purple. Melinda Kali Halliwell. Oh, is that not just beautiful, Jar?"
He nodded his head sharply. "Yeah, babe, just damn beautiful."
She smiled completely oblivious. "Maybe we could have some type of wisdom quote on one wall like 'Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.' Dr. Suess said that. What do you think? Jar? Jared? Jared!"
Jared jumped slightly. "Yeah?"
"W-were you ev-even listening to me?" Phoebe cried. Her cheeks were red and puffy from the tears streaming hard and fast. "You don't care! You don't care at all! I am 3 –almost 4- months pregnant with your child and you don't even give a damn!"
"Ba—"
"Don't you 'baby' me," she growled. "Pull over. Now!"
Jared drove the car to the side of the rode and Phoebe jumped out.
"Phoebe don't—"
She stepped in the back with Cole and stuck her tongue out at her boyfriend. Cole smirked and stuck his tongue out too.
"Real mature, babe," Jared grumbled. "Real mature."
After ten minutes of not so awkward silence (Phoebe filling it up with insane babbling) they arrived a fairly big warehouse.
"I thought we were going to a store?" Phoebe asked.
"It is a store. My mom's store anyway. It's closed on Sundays though," Cole explained. "She's letting you pick whatever you want," he winked. "Discount."
Jared glared at the two. "Come on lovebirds."
Phoebe pulled Cole out of the car and met him with her own glare. "He's a better boyfriend than you."
Feeling unlike himself and more like a jealous teenager Jared stated. "Maybe he should be your boyfriend then."
"Fine!" Phoebe growled.
"Fine."
Phoebe clutched Cole's arm and shoved him in the store. They walked to the baby furniture and Phoebe's furious demeanor melted.
"Should little Melinda have a rocking chair? I could read to every night."
Cole ducked his head, feeling slightly guilty. Here she was, talking on and on about the baby this and the baby that, in the end thought none of it would matter. The baby would be in the Underworld and Phoebe would have no clue what just happened the past nine months.
Phoebe suddenly started to cry.
"Phoebe?" he asked. "Phoebe what's wrong?"
"J-Jared won't be able to read to her 'cause we got into a fight and n-now he hates me!"
"He doesn't hate you," Cole disagreed.
As if by luck, Jared walked down the hall, holding a teddy bear that said 'it's a girl!'. He sat next to Phoebe and handed her the stuffed bear.
She smiled and wiped her teary eyes. "Where'd you get this? This is a furniture store."
He sent a sly wink towards Cole. "I have my ways."
"You're so sweet!" Phoebe squealed and gave her boyfriend a hug.
Phoebe had gone back to her grandmother's house and took the box of clothes with her. She wanted to say goodbye to her sisters and Grams.
Prue had walked down the stairs with a box full of different things.
"What's in there?" Phoebe asked.
"Pillows, extra blankets, knick-knacks for the nursery," she answered. "You'd be surprised as how much stuff Mom kept over the years."
"Yeah, I kinda am," she said, taking the box from her. "Whoa! Heavy!" She set it on the floor.
Prue grinned. "This is exactly why we are dropping you off."
"I thought I wasn't supposed to lift anything heaving until I came close to not being able to see my feet."
Prue glanced at her younger sister's stomach. It was semi-big and jutted out. Phoebe's hands lay protectively on the small bump.
She nodded and picked up the box for her younger sister. "You're right. We wouldn't want the poor girl to get hurt, would we? Open the door for me?"
Phoebe rushed to open the front door and help Prue walked down the stairs, seeing as she couldn't look at where she was going.
"When you have the baby though, don't expect me to keep doing this for you," she stopped to smile at her sister. She slid the box in the trunk and turned towards Phoebe who was looking at the floor sadly.
"You won't have to worry about that, Prue. I won't be able to see you anymore. I'll be too busy with Melinda."
Prue blinked and sighed. "But you can visit."
She shook her head doubtfully and backtracked inside the house. "If Grams allows me to step foot in the house."
At her words, Penny walked down the stairs and looked at the two. "What about me?"
Phoebe shook her head and smiled at her grandma. "Nothing. I-I came to say goodbye."
Penny raised an eyebrow. "I see you're really going through with this."
Phoebe glared. "Why would I not?"
"Well, you know, you never finish anything, Phoebe. I didn't expect you to actually move in with the boy and keep the child."
"You-you're such a bitch!" Phoebe seethed. "This is my daughter here. I can't believe you would have so little faith in me that you would actually think I would give up!"
"Well," Penny said almost in a bored tone. "You obviously gave up on yourself. Why else would you get knocked up?"
Phoebe gasped and grasped her stomach in a loving defensive gesture. "H-how dare you say that! This is your granddaughter."
Penny almost laughed, she held back what she really wanted to say, "How could a demon possibly be my granddaughter?"
Prue rounded on the older woman. "You know she's going through a rough time. You're not helping anything. You're just kicking her when she's down!"
Phoebe fought back tears and snatched Prue's keys from the table and stalked outside. She jumped inside and started the car.
The ride to the house was silent, except for Phoebe's occasional sob when she couldn't hold back. Finally, about two miles from the house, she looked at Prue. "Does she hate me?" she asked quietly.
"Grams?" Prue asked. Phoebe nodded. "No, your choice yes, but not you."
"Because I'm too young," she resolved.
"Yes, but somehow I have a feeling you'll prove us all wrong," Prue told her.
She hiccupped. "I hope so."
She rounded the corner, pulling into the cracked driveway and turned off the ignition. Phoebe made to get out, but Prue stopped her.
"What?"
She rested her hand on top of Phoebe's which was resting on her stomach. "It's just…what Piper said about calling her if you need anything that goes for me too."
She wiped her eyes. "Really, Prue? You mean it?"
"Yes Phoebe," she said opening her door and getting out. She walked around and opened Phoebe's door.
And after she'd helped Phoebe inside and brought the last box from her trunk inside, the two sisters said a teary goodbye and Prue drove away, thinking Phoebe was in good hands.
Jared had welcomed her in with open arms and they currently stood in the spare room – now her daughter's nursery – that was across from Jared's and now Phoebe's – room.
"It's beautiful," she said walking into the middle of the room.
They had decided on that pretty pastel pink and Melinda Kali above the crib in light purple. On the adjacent wall, Dr. Seuss' quote was strewn across in funky letters a nice pretty blue. A rocker sat next to a book shelf, the shelf adorned with famous children books. She had decided on cherry hardwood floors and placed a couple of rugs here and there.
Phoebe hung ling pink yellow polka dotted curtains on the sole window and smiled.
"So," Jared asked, snaking his arms around her from the back and kissing her neck, "do you think she'll like it?"
Phoebe smiled, grabbing his arm that was around her. "Yes, she'll love it. I already do," she turned around and kissed him.
This was her home now. Their home now.
A week later…
Phoebe rolled over in bed, trying to sleep, but her baby wouldn't let her. The nausea had gotten much worse without the tea her Grams had given her and it was physically to the point where she could barely eat…anything.
Wait, that wasn't true, she could eat, she just couldn't seem to keep it down.
She opened her eyes, noticing Jared was nowhere in sight. She sighed, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and instantly grabbed the trash can, emptying what little food she'd been able to stomach last night.
After recovering from her bout, she stood up and walked to the bathroom. Once there, she tried to wake herself up with cold water. Ever since she'd moved in, she noticed she'd been so much more tired than before. Deciding it would be good to be out of their bedroom, even if only a bit, she opened the door to the nursery.
She saw the boxes that Prue had left were stacked beside the rocking chair.
"What do you think?" she asked her little girl resting her hand on her stomach while walking over to the chair. "Should we see what your Auntie Prue packed for us?" As her nausea had subsided, Phoebe took that as a go-ahead.
Phoebe knelt down slowly beside the box, making sure she didn't strain her stomach. She sat crisscrossed and caressed her baby while opening the flaps with her other hand. She pushed back the protective bubble wrap. Her sister did go full out.
The items that lay on the pink cushion were familiar and caused Phoebe to tear up a bit. She was young when her mother died, but she always remembered the little things. After her passing, no one could bear to look at her belongings anymore. Everyone except Penny, she seemed calm throughout all of it, as if she didn't die, but merely left for vacation and would come back soon.
Phoebe pulled out the nearest object, a bear. The rattiest, ugliest bear on the planet, but it was from when Patty was a child and she refused to let it go. Phoebe cried, and started to pet it's matted hair. She vowed to wash it, make the poor thing look brand new and give it to her little girl. Maybe even dress it up a bit.
The next possession of her mother's was a picture. A photo she took herself. It was beautiful. Patty had wanted to be a photographer, but couldn't with all of her kids. Plus the fact, Penny would never let her become one, always saying how she had duties of being a witch.
The picture was of a park, Prue sat as a four year old, smiling widely as little Piper held up a bubble wand, the wind it perfectly as to where the bubble just started to form and a couple of other bubbles scattered in the air.
There was also a jewelry box. The box was black velvet and the lid opened with a snap. In the box, there was a small picture of Penny holding Patty as a baby. The picture was old, seeing as when Phoebe ran her fingers over it, the texture was slightly bumpy. The edges were rounded and Phoebe rubbed her finger tips around the edge. She set it to the side and gingerly picked up a golden necklace.
There were three golden hearts toppled onto each other. Biggest to smallest, they tilted crookedly. Next, she picked up a bracelet. There was a sole charm on there. It was a bright blue that oddly tinted green. It was a Celtic knot, a thick circle with three almond shaped bands entwined with the circle and themselves. The medal was smooth and she slipped it on her wrist, loving the way it felt on her.
Lastly, there was a bottle of perfume that she spritzed in the air and sniffed it, reminded by the familiar scent of her late mother.
She ignored the last couple items and started to sob. She shakily packed everything up. She pushed the box into her and Jared's room, not wanting to lift it, afraid of hurting her baby. She opened the box back up, pulled the old bear and crawled on the bed, clutching the stuffed animal like a lifeline and crying.
Her body felt so incredibly heavy with the weight of everything in her life that when someone walked into the room she didn't even bother to stop crying or turn over.
"Phoebe?" Cole asked, sitting behind her on the bed. "What's wrong?"
"Go away!"
He touched her shoulder. "No, what's wrong? I want to know!" he argued.
She shrugged him off. "Just go away!" she said, clutching the teddy bear tighter.
"But I brought you something to eat," he countered.
"I'm not hungry."
He sighed, leaving the room. He knew the pregnancy would affect her – well, everything, but he had a suspicion this wasn't because of that. He closed the door and saw Jared walk in.
"Where's Phoebe?" he asked.
"In there, refusing any help," he sighed. "Really upset."
"Well, maybe I can do something."
Cole put his hand on his shoulder. "Wait."
"What?"
"I want to help her as much as you do, but this isn't a guy thing," Cole answered.
"Then what is it?"
"A sister thing."
Jared rested against the wall. "So you think I should call someone?"
Cole shrugged. "Don't know."
"A lot of good you are!" he said sarcastically.
"Yeah, well, you asked for my opinion." He walked away…
Author's note: So what do you think?
Reviews are much appreciated. Please?
Review thanks to: That70sshowlova, SyndiDowell, FaithInHim4ever & HalliwellMB
Thanks to my co-writer: That70sShowLova! You're the sweetest!
Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell & That70sShowLova