A/N: Sorry again for the delay.
FanficFemale: I like to think that this is sort of what would have happened if this happened on the show. I didn't like how Charmed basically only had a black and white concept of good and evil on the show. Hope you like this chapter!
Shadow Cat17: That doesn't make you weird at all. I like this concept, and it's going to be a central focus on most of the rest of the story. Hope you like this chapter!
lizardmomma: You'll find out in this chapter Prue's reaction to Piper seeing Phoebe. But will she be mad? Hope you like what comes out of it!
kagomekikyo-arrow: It's okay. I don't expect everyone to review every single chapter. Life happens, you know? Glad you liked it, hope you stick with it, and that you like this chapter!
thaatgirrl: Thank you! Hope you like this chapter!
Charmed4Life322: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it. In my opinion there aren't enough stories with Phoebe on the other side, and this story has just taken a life of its own now! Hope you like this chapter!
Another Phoebe: Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it. There aren't any immediate plans to have Phoebe be pregnant, but if she does I hope you stick with it. And you will definitely see more of Cole's evil side! Within the next couple of chapters actually! Hope you like this next chapter!
Chapter Twenty
When Piper got back to the Manor, she was surprised to find Prue there. She was sitting in the living room, flipping through channels on the TV.
Piper regarded her in surprise as she entered. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"
"Nope," Prue replied simply, not looking at Piper. "I decided I deserved a day off. What with everything going on lately, we all needed one."
"Okay." Piper still wasn't convinced Prue didn't know about Piper's meeting with Phoebe, and was just waiting for Prue to say something about it but she didn't want to go off into an apology until she was certain the subject wasn't going to be brought up. "What were you thinking, playing hooky at home and just hoping something decent is on daytime television?"
Prue shrugged. "No. I'm not sure, I'm just so sick of going into the magazine and taking Mr. Corso's crap all day when I could be at home with my sisters, doing something fun."
Piper stared. "Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?"
Prue laughed and shut off the TV. "Piper, I'm serious! I'm sick of being ever-responsible Prue! If there's one thing this whole mess with Phoebe has taught me, it's that life is too short to be worrying about mundane things like work and taking pictures of celebrities. There are much bigger and important things to worry about."
The next thing Piper knew, Prue was standing up in front of her and scooping her into a huge hug, causing them both to fall to the sofa with a hard thud.
Prue burst out laughing, something that Piper wasn't used to seeing at all. "What's the matter with you? Did you get hit with fairy dust again?"
"No, silly! I'm just happy to be home. I might just take the rest of the week off."
Piper was reminded of her and Phoebe's meeting tomorrow and wondered how she was going to get there without Prue knowing. "That's okay. You don't have to take the week off. We need the money."
"Oh come on, Piper, it's not like we have a mortgage or anything! What do you say we catch a movie or something? Maybe even go to the mall? I could go for a pedicure," Prue went on, squeezing her hand tightly.
Piper hesitated, not sure why she was doing so. "Shouldn't we wait for Paige?"
Prue shook her head impatiently. "She's going to be at work until five. And besides that, we haven't really talked since Phoebe...disappeared. Not really. I think we should."
"Okay," Piper finally agreed. What the hell, Piper thought to herself as Prue went to get her purse. It's not like Phoebe's going to call.
"What do you say we visit that nail salon in the mall? It's been ages since we've been there," Prue suggested as they made their way to the front door.
"Sure. But shouldn't we leave a note or something? You know, so Paige doesn't freak out when she realizes we aren't home?"
"Or we could just leave her a message." Prue stopped and turned to stare at Piper. Piper turned away, wishing Prue would do the same. "Are you okay? You seem a little...I don't know...off."
"Yeah," Piper replied, a little too quickly.
Prue gave her a knowing look.
Piper sighed. "Look, I don't really want to get into it right now. Can we just leave it alone and just do our sisterly outing?"
"I wouldn't love anything more, but if you're keeping something from me, it's going to make things a little awkward. And I don't want that to ruin our time together. So spill," Prue demanded, sounding much more like her true self.
Piper sighed, wishing she hadn't given herself away.
"I, uh, went to go see someone," she said finally, avoiding Prue's judging expression.
"Who?"
"Phoebe," Piper blurted out.
"What?!" Prue exclaimed.
"It wasn't my idea, okay? It's was Grams's."
"Grams?"
Piper nodded. "She came to see me last week and told me that it would be a good idea. So I did."
"Why didn't you tell me? I would've come with," Prue replied, losing her harsh tone. She no longer looked angry or even surprised. Only regretful.
"Really?" Piper was skeptical.
"What, you think you're the only one who misses her?" Prue asked in disbelief. "She's my sister too. You really think I would've refused to see her? Why does everyone think so little of me all of a sudden? No one thinks I can be understanding or forgiving. I'm so ready to hear Phoebe out, it's killing me, Piper!"
Piper was shocked. She definitely had not been expecting that reaction. She immediately wrapped a comforting arm around her older sister, who looked to be on the verge of tears. "I thought, after the times when Phoebe was here since she turned evil, that you might not want to see her."
Prue shook her head. "That's not true. I may be a little disappointed at how things turned out, but I would never disown her, if that's what you think."
"Well, no, I..." Piper was at a loss for words. Now not only was she surprised, but she felt guilty. Suddenly she thought of a way for Prue to feel better. "Phoebe and I have a lunch date tomorrow at Buddy's. Want to come with?"
"You're meeting Phoebe for lunch tomorrow?"
Piper nodded. "We're going to finish our conversation. We're trying to come to terms with what happens. I think it's a good idea for you to come with. You know, so we can come to terms with this together."
Prue nodded as well. "Okay. Definitely. I'll call Mr. Corso and tell him I won't be going to work tomorrow. Hopefully he'll be okay with it since there's no way I'm missing lunch tomorrow."
Piper couldn't help but smile as Prue took her cell phone out of her phone and called her boss. Now that she knew Prue was just as eager to talk to Phoebe as she was, Piper felt much better about the whole thing. It made her think that this whole mess could get resolved once and for all.
"Excellent news!" Cole exclaimed as he shimmered into the bedroom, where Phoebe was flipping absent-mindedly through the Book of Shadows. The book closed on its own as Phoebe jumped a foot in the air from being startled by her husband's unannounced entrance.
"Cole, don't do that!" she exclaimed, but he wasn't listening.
"We've finally figured out how to defeat the Charmed Ones without actually killing them!" Cole announced, ignoring Phoebe's previous comment. He sat down on the bed beside Phoebe and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"You what?" Phoebe asked, not sure she heard him correctly.
"Yes! Maseras was talking to an alchemist who said he has a potion that would permanently strip your sisters of their powers, making them mortal, and no spell or potion of theirs would be able to undo it! Isn't that great?"
Phoebe forced a tight smile. "That's wonderful."
But Cole wasn't fooled. "That wasn't the reaction I was hoping for. Phoebe, this is what we've wanted for months! I promised you that your sisters wouldn't be harmed, didn't I? Well, this potion is how we eliminate the threat of the Charmed Ones without causing them any harm. I thought this was what you wanted?"
Phoebe stared at him incredulously. "When did I say that?"
Cole looked at his wife in confusion. "That's all we've talked about. This is what I gave you powers for. Powers you haven't been using, I should point out."
"Cole, that doesn't have anything to do with this. How is stripping my sisters' powers not harming them? Being the Charmed Ones is who they are! That's who I used to be. Not being one...it's like taking a part of them away," Phoebe explained, her tone growing softer and softer with every word.
Cole stood up, walking over to Phoebe. "Is that how you feel?" he demanded. "That a part of you is gone because you aren't a Charmed One? I thought you were happy being with me."
"I am!" Phoebe exclaimed. "God, Cole! How many times do I have to say this? I made the choice to be your queen on my own. I had plenty of opportunities to go back to being a Charmed One, but I didn't take them. I want to be with you. And yes, I may have wanted to get my sisters out of the way at the beginning, but things have changed."
"Why?" Cole demanded.
"Because I know they won't go after us."
"And how do you know that?"
"I saw Piper today."
Cole's eyes bulged at this. He seemed to be at a loss for words.
Phoebe rushed into an explanation, not wanting him to get any angrier than he already was. "It's not what you think. She dropped by, completely unannounced, wanting to talk. Not about you, not about us. Just sister stuff. She's been missing me, Cole. Hell, I've missed her too. I'm not going to lie and say I haven't. It was completely innocent."
"Were you planning on telling me?" Cole's voice was quiet as he said this. He avoided Phoebe's eyes.
"I just did, didn't I?"
"Only because I backed you into a corner. Let me ask you this: did you even try to look for that spell to keep us together?"
"Oh, Cole, I'm sorry. I completely forgot!" Phoebe exclaimed in horror. The truth was that she did forget.
Cole shook his head. "Of course."
Phoebe frowned in outrage. "You think I forgot on purpose?"
"Phoebe, what else can I think? You blew me off for your sister! How do you know she didn't cast some spell on you to make you forget?"
"She didn't."
"How do you know?"
"Because I know her, and I know she would never do anything like that."
"Even if it meant bringing you back to their side? Make you a Charmed One again?"
"No." Phoebe shook her head, careful to keep her voice light. "You want to know what we talked about? I'll tell you. We were looking to find some sort of compromise."
Cole took a moment to process this. When he did finally reply, his voice was light as well. "What sort of compromise?"
Phoebe smiled. "The kind where I stay with you and they're okay with it."
Cole blinked in surprise. "Really?"
Phoebe nodded. "Yes. They aren't as opposed to us being together as we originally thought."
"Hmm. This is news," he said, more to himself than to Phoebe.
Phoebe walked up to him and embraced him in a much needed hug. "So maybe we don't need to have the alchemist give my sisters that potion?"
"We'll see. In the meantime...why don't I make it up to you about this little fight?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Phoebe smirked seductively, all traces of her earlier outrage gone. "What did you have in mind?"
Cole answered her by kissing her passionately on the lips, working his hands underneath her shirt. Then they fell to the bed in a tangled heap.
When Prue and Piper got back to the manor around sunset, they found Paige sitting at the kitchen table working on what they could only assume to be a case.
"Hey, honey. How was your day?" Prue asked as she took a seat across from their youngest sister.
"Ugh." Paige grunted in response. It was like Prue's voice had released her from some kind of trance work had trapped her in. She crossed her arms on the table and leaned her head down tiredly.
Prue and Piper exchanged amused looks. "Paige, why don't you take a break? You've been working all day," Piper said, whisking Paige's file from underneath her.
Paige looked up. "Unlike you two, who seem to have bought the entire mall. What did you get?"
Prue held out her hands in response. "See for yourself!"
"Honey, your nails are beautiful!" Paige exclaimed upon seeing her older sister's manicure. She'd decided on a French manicure with the tips of her nails white. "I'm so jealous. Next time you have to take me with you!"
"We will. We promise. In the meantime, why don't you go take a nice, relaxing bubble bath? No more work, not even thoughts of work. When you come out, I'll fix us some hot fudge sundaes!" Piper offered, taking Paige's arms and leading her out of her seat.
Paige nodded. "Good idea. I have to admit, a hot bubble bath sounds great."
Prue smiled and motioned to the staircase. "Have at it."
As Paige bounced away, Piper took her seat. "We should have taken her with us. Help her feel more like she's part of the family."
"While I would usually agree with you, this was something that just you and I had to do. I'm not trying to minimize Paige's involvement in our family, but we know Phoebe more than she does. We had to talk about her. We stand more to lose than Paige does," Prue explained, her expression turning serious.
Piper shrugged. "I guess. I still feel kind of guilty for leaving her out, though."
"I know. But we'll make up for it tonight. We'll have a fat night. Have some sundaes, watch some cheesy romantic film on TV, then maybe even get some facials! Things we haven't done in a long time," Prue replied.
"Sounds good to me. I could use a facial," Piper stated.
"I'll say," Prue joked.
Piper smacked her playfully on the shoulder.
When Paige came down half an hour later, Piper indulged her sisters by keeping her promise and making them sundaes. Once they were finished, Prue led them all to the upstairs bathroom and got out all they needed for facials. Piper laughed along with Prue and Paige, determined to keep Phoebe out of her thoughts. She knew that once she thought of Phoebe she would begin to feel guilty, and that would spoil the mood.
Besides, she thought to herself. If we ever come to a truce with Phoebe, we could be doing this with her pretty soon anyway.
That was the thought that kept her laughing with her other sisters.