Heaven's Mistaken Gift

by: Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell

Co-written by: That70sShoLova

Chapter 23: Unhinging the Door

Cole closed the door and stood with his back against it. "Kali," he addressed in a firm tone, "I believe your mother asked you a question. Are you going to deem her worthy of an answer or not?"

Kali looked at him, the stubbornness in her dark eyes beginning to dissipate and Cole could see it. Something was changing within her. He only hoped it was a change for the better.

After five minutes, the witch sighed. "It's okay. You don't have to answer now."

Kali looked at her surprised. "I don't? You mean, you're not going to force it out of me?"

"No, why would I do that?"

"Because it's a question that you want answered. I guess I just thought everyone was like that."

"Because you use force to get what you want. You think everyone does that. Kali, you and I carry on conversations all the time without the slightest hint of physical force. Can't you and your mother do that too?" Cole asked.

Kali sighed, resting her hands in her lap. This was a huge step—a milestone of sorts—and even though she saw her mother's genuine interest, despite how tired she looked, Kali didn't know what to say. Her mind was screaming at her to answer the question simply, or was that her demonic blood?

She knew everything she'd worked so hard to achieve—killing the Source to gain his power, having a limitless supply of demons to do her bidding, even coming inches from killing the woman who sat beside her—was going to crumble. And it would only take a few choice words.

Even little Melinda was trying to call her back. Kali found this somewhat odd. Usually in stressful situations, Melinda willingly gave her control. But if she was comfortable then did that really mean what Belthazar had told her about this house and everyone in it was true?

She bit her lip, looking Phoebe in the eyes. "Do I have to start calling you Mom? 'Cause that's just gonna be weird for me."

Phoebe smiled. "Well, not right off the bat, I hope someday you will, Kali. I know Melinda will now and I understand why it's hard for you to accept."

"Because you had no choice. Bel—Cole hid me from you for my own good. And yours too."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Kali, how much did you hear?"

She shrugged, looking to Cole. "Pretty much all of it, but my questions will be difficult for her to answer and I don't think I'll like hearing them, so I will bring them up later," she looked to Phoebe, "if that's okay with you?"

Phoebe nodded slowly. "Yes, that's fine. I still need to figure things out myself. But whatever you ask whenever you ask I'll try my best to answer."

Kali smirked. Melinda was really fighting her now. She sighed. "All right, all right. I won't hold you back any longer."

Phoebe looked to Cole, puzzled, but he just smiled.

Once again, Kali was in the backseat while Melinda took full control of their body.

Melinda smiled shyly at Phoebe and backed into Cole's legs. She gripped his shirt with her hands and, again, smiled hesitantly at Phoebe.

"H-Hi..."

Phoebe grinned back and knelt by Melinda. "Hi."

Melinda ducked her head and let her blonde hair fan her face. "Daddy's told me about you..." she smiled. "You're more pretty in person."

Phoebe blushed and looked to Cole. "You have?"

He nodded. "She asks about you... A LOT." He smiled.

Phoebe thought a moment. This wasn't as simple as asking her what her favorite food, color or TV show was.

"Mel, why don't you tell her what you like to do?" Cole asked, hoping for common ground.

Melinda grinned, proudly showing off a missing tooth. "I like..." she bit her lip."I like to pretend that I'm a princess who has to escape her torture chamber all by herself." she nudged Cole. "He's always the prince who I meet once I escape."

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Prince huh? Does he battle things that are trying t hurt you so that you can escape? Like," she pretended to be deep in thought, then smiled, "like a fire-breathing dragon? Or am I too far out there?" she asked looking to Cole, who shook his head.

Melinda shook her head. "No! Of course not, silly! He vanquishes demons and icky monsters." she scoffed as much as a young girl could, "Dragons."

Phoebe laughed. "Of course not! Dragons are too little for you right?" she asked while giving Cole a thanks-for-making-me-look-like-an-idiot look.

Melinda ran up to Phoebe and looked her boldly in the eyes. "Will you be a princess with me?"

Phoebe shrugged. "Sure. What do I do? I don't remember. I haven't played this game in a long time. "

Melinda squealed in delight and clapped her hands. She blinked and conjured the evil step mother. "Don't worry, she won't actually hurt us." she eagerly pulled Phoebe to the bed and the huddled close together. "She's gonna say mean things and then...then we have to sneak out the window, but she catches us! And then we have to sneak out again."

Phoebe grinned in finally getting to make a few memories, then reality struck. "Umm, okay, but sweetie, we're on the 2nd floor. How are we supposed to get out?"

Phoebe laughed. "Thanks for believing in me!" She looked at Cole an mouthed "Conjure a rope ladder."

He smiled, waved his hand and a ladder appeared in the room. Then he shimmered outside and hung it from a couple nails that were on the windowsill. He shimmered back in beaming at her. "All set!"

Melinda cheered. She clung to Phoebe's arm and blinked. Suddenly, both her and Phoebe were in beautiful, poofy dresses. Melinda brought her hands up to her and hair and smiled when she hit her braided locks. She loved it when her hair was braided.

Phoebe smiled. "Don't you look lovely!"

Phoebe smiled, but couldn't help crying and fell back onto the bed. Melinda looked at her oddly.

"Mama?" she asked attentively. "What's wrong?" she started to tear up and looked at Cole. "I ruined it!"

Cole walked over and knelt beside her. "No, you didn't. She's...just really happy. She's never had anybody call her Mommy or Mama before. She's happy, really. Aren't you, Phoebe?" Phoebe sat up and wiped her eyes frantically. "Yes," she said still wiping the tears away. "You didn't ruin it. I still want to play. I just...please say it again!"

Her eyes lit up and she bound forward to hug Phoebe. "I'm happy, Mama." she placed a kiss on her cheek. "Now, we have to escape!" she gestured wildly towards the evil step mother. "She's going to hurt us!"

She pretended to be shocked. "Oh, that's right! Hurry, run!" She grabbed her hand and led her to the window. "Little princesses first." She smiled as Melinda climbed up and over onto the ladder.

"Now you, Mommy!" Melinda called.

Phoebe smiled, sitting on the sill and carefully situated herself on the ladder and climbed down beside Melinda. "How'd I do?" she asked.

"Wonderful!" Melinda cried. She blinked and the colorful glass window below rippled and she swung elegantly through the window and landed gracefully in the living room.

Phoebe hesitantly dipped her toe into the glass and tumbled through. Melinda giggled and helped her mother up. Piper ran into the living room, looking for the sign of any demons only to find two very poofy dressed girls. Piper raised an eyebrow.

"Do I want to know?" she asked and looked even more curiously towards Melinda.

Phoebe brought a finger to her lips and pointed towards the ceiling quietly. "Don't wake the wicked witch, Piper."

Piper laughed. "Of course not, we wouldn't want that now, would we?" she grinned. "Would the princesses like to invite their princes for some cookies?"

Melinda shrieked with joy and called, "Daddy! Daddy! Come here!"

Cole shimmered down quickly and picked her up in a swift movement. "What is it?"

She pointed towards the woman she didn't know the name of. "This nice lady has cookies! And she invited us to eat them with her. Can I have some, Daddy? Please?"

Cole looked towards Phoebe for guidance and she nodded. "Of course. Thank you, Aunt Piper. We would love to join you."

Melinda maneuvered out of Cole's arms and dipped into a gracious curtsy. "Yes. Thank you, Aunt Piper." she giggled, loving to talk like a princess. "For being ever so generous." she blinked and the dresses disappeared from their bodies. Melinda blinked again and her outfit colors changed from black to pink. "Cookies!" she bolted towards the kitchen, only to stop and turn around. "You have milk, right?"

Piper smiled warmly, "Of course. What are chocolate chip cookies without milk?"

Melinda gave up on running and instead opted for shimmering towards the kitchen and shoving a cookie in her mouth.

"Melinda!" Phoebe tried to reprimand, but ended up laughing. "Ask first!"

"Can I have a cookie?" she mumbled and then bit into another one before waiting for an answer. Piper chuckled and nodded wordlessly.

Paige orbed into the kitchen. "Cookies!" she yelled and inhaled the chocolate smell. She hurried to gobble one up and nodded towards Melinda. "Hey, kid."

Melinda nodded back. "Hi..." she bit her lip, not knowing her name.

Paige smiled. "Call me Aunt Paige." she munched on another cookie.

"Sooooo," Piper began, "what was with the poofy dresses?"

Paige raised a brow. "Dresses?"

Melinda nodded happily. "Mommy and I were playing princesses!"

Cole smiled. "And they both looked like royalty."

"Especially Mommy."

Phoebe grinned. "Nah, you looked better!"

Cole grinned. "Really? I don't think so."

Paige rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Keep it in your pants."

"Keep what?" Melinda asked curiously.

"Nothing." Piper interrupted. "Nothing!"

Phoebe yawned. "Feels late, but its only 9:30."

"Well, you had an interesting night," Cole answered. "Very eventful."

Melinda reached for another cookie which Piper handed her, then another. "No more. You don't want an upset tummy while you sleep."

Melinda pouted. "'kay."

Paige curled her lip and scrunched her nose. "No talk about that 'interesting night', okay? Or I'll be the one with the upset stomach." She grabbed a cookie and orbed it under the table, landing it on Melinda's lap.

She winked discreetly at her and took another cookie to bring upstairs with her. "Thanks, Piper!" she orbed back up to the attic.

"Yeah, she's right," Phoebe sighed, "though it wasn't that kind of night."

Melinda raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean, Mama?"

Phoebe smiled. "Nothing sweetie, nothing. But I had fun, did you?"

"Yes, we can!" Phoebe smiled.

Melinda yawned.

"Uh oh, somebody's tired," Piper quipped.

"No, 'm not." Melinda mumbled. "I'm j'st..." she thought for an excuse, "...bored..."

Cole chuckled. "No you're not. It's late for you."

"Nu-uh!" Melinda protested. "I'm just...bored without Aunt Paige here, 's all. I could stay up all night!"

Piper laughed. "Yeah, she does tend to have that effect on kids. But is there anything you could do with the three -or four- of us? We can be fun too."

"Let's watch a movie!"

"What movie?" Cole asked.

"You're gonna drag me home, aren't you?" She asked, whining. "I don't wanna go!"

Cole smiled. "I never said I would. Being as you're having a good time, we can stay."

Melinda's eyes lit up. "All night? Please Mama?"

Phoebe sighed. "Well, ask your Daddy and Aunt Piper. I don't have a problem with it."

Piper smiled. "Me either. I would love it if you stayed."

"What movie do you wanna watch?" Piper asked.

"Can we watch The Grinch?"

"That's a Christmas movie!" Phoebe asked. "Its summertime!"

Melinda pouted.

Phoebe sighed. "Okay, I think we have it on DVD. Go see if your Aunt Paige wants to watch with us."

Melinda nodded and shimmered up to the attic. "Aunt Paige?"

Paige turned around, smiling. "Yeah?"

"Do you wanna watch The Grinch with us?"

Paige grinned and clapped her hands together. "That's my favorite movie!"

When Paige orbed Melinda back down into the living room, the previews were already skipped and Piper had the movie on pause. Melinda sat in between Phoebe and Cole.

She pouted at how cold-hearted the Grinch was in the beginning, but how he obviously just needed a friend. Melinda giggled when Grinch saved Cindy from the present shoot. Her eyes started to flutter closed when Cindy's father found Cindy wrapped in paper. She finally fell asleep on Phoebe's shoulder when Grinch got angry at how he helped Cindy.

"She's out." Paige stated.

"I'll take her up to..." Cole frowned. "Maybe I should take her home."

"No!" Phoebe interrupted. "She can stay in my room." Phoebe took Melinda gently in her arms. "I'll take her."

Cole raised a brow. "Are you sure? She can be pretty unpredictable."

Piper sighed. "That really is incredible."

Phoebe shifted Melinda in her arms and looked at Piper. "What is?"

Piper bit her lip in hesitation. "How much she looks like the bastard who beat you," she said slowly in hoping to soften the blow.

Phoebe's eyes turned dark and hard. "Yes, it is, but if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have her."

Cole smirked. I don't know about that."

Paige sighed. "What did I say about that kind of talk? Ugh! God, I can feel the cookies coming up already!"

Everyone laughed.

"Enough of nasty talk." Paige said. "Go. Take her upstairs and bring that with you. I take no responsibility for kicking him in the ass."

"You're so dramatic." Phoebe said quietly. "Come on, Cole."

He shrugged and followed her upstairs into her bedroom closing the door behind them. Phoebe shifted Melinda in her arms and sat on the bed, laying her against the wall, then she climbed in herself. "Are you gonna stay?"

"Do you want me to?"

She smirked. "Yeah, I do."

He smiled and walked over to them, kneeling on the floor. "Okay," he took her hand, "I will." He went to move away, but she still held his hand. "What?"

She smiled, moving to the middle.

He climbed in and Phoebe rested against him.

"That's much better."

Melinda snuggled into Phoebe's side.

Phoebe sighed in content, feeling Cole's arm come around her.

"Feel better?" he asked.

She nodded. "I wish every night could be this way."

Cole laughed lightly. "I do too, without her every night. I love her, don't get me wrong," his hand raked through her hair, "but it seems like it's been forever since we spent time together."

She smiled. "You're so not getting there that easily!" she laughed.

"I expected as much, but I have a feeling there will come a day."

She sighed. "Me too." She wrapped an arm around Melinda and slowly let her eyes close, falling asleep on Cole's chest.

Author's note: So what do you think? Will they make more memories? How will Kali's plan work now that they'll getting close?

Reviews are much appreciated. Please?

Review thanks to: That70sshowlova, HalliwellMB, BikerChick101

Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell & That70sShowLova