Title: Something Different
By: Bridget McKennitt
Pairing: Phoebe Halliwell/Cole Turner
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1114
Summary: Phoebe is very different from her sisters, and only Cole can understand.
Contains: No warnings in as far I know that can't be extrapolated from the header itself.
Disclaimer: Charmed is owned by other companies. They are used here without permission, and for entertainment purposes only. No challenge or infringement upon the copyright is intended, nor should any be inferred.
Phoebe was busy typing her column on her laptop as Paige and Piper
giggled endlessly over baby magazines. She sighed and tuned them out by
putting on her headphones and listening to Savage Garden. Piper was having
a baby. Like that was a shocker. Phoebe did not mean to feel so sarcastic
over it but she felt it anyway.
She clicked on a new file and started typing. 'Question: What kind
of baby do you get when a Whitelighter and a Witch get together? Answer:
Paige.' She laughed softly. The mixed breed was nothing new to this family
and she remembered only last year when Piper scorned such a mixture. And a
year later, Piper was in heaven.
'Too many whitelighters.' She typed. Leo was all whitelighter, Paige
was half whitelighter/half witch, and Piper's baby was the same. With Piper
pregnant though, she would have access to her baby's powers such as orbing.
Three orbers in the house. It made Phoebe feel useless even more so.
'What can I do? I can kickbox, but miraculously so can Paige and
Piper now. I'm not quite sure how they learned though. I have premonitions
but demons just pop out now so no point in that. I can levitate but who
cares? I'm useless.' She sighed and lowered the screen. She did not want to
think about something so depressing.
"I'm going to the store!" Phoebe called out but she was pretty sure
that no one heard. 'Now I know what it's like being Leo. Wallpaper.' She
grabbed her keys and closed the door behind her.
Phoebe loved being a witch. There was no denying it. Paige may
consider herself the best with the Book of Shadows but she had sucked up
every piece of knowledge, every incantation during a Smart Spell. Yet it
was Paige who Piper called to search the book. It was Paige who was counted
as important. Not Phoebe. She was persona non grata in the eyes of her
sisters.
"Why should I care? They don't need me in the Power of Three. The
Source is dead, we don't need the power boost. I'm sure the whitelighters
can take care of everything," she muttered in disgust. "I'm just useless ol'
Phoebe, the screwup with a demonic husband. How dreadful that I'm not in
black and white with simple situations. I'm not stable or safe like my darling
sisters are. Wonderful."
With an act of defiance, Phoebe decided not to go to the store and
instead just drove. She wanted to numb the pain in her heart. Maybe if Prue
was alive right now instead of her....no, she should not think of her big
sister, the super witch who could do no wrong and did not need her sisters,
just her wonderful, fabulous powers. She felt even more like a failure after
thinking about Prue. "Why am I the only who thinks with her heart? I love
Cole and I accept our complicated life even though I wish it could be
different. That we had a love that was accepted by everyone, like Piper and
Leo have."
She drove on, streets and people blurring around her. She was
something different. He was something different. And because they were
as they were, she was an outcast in her own family. "If you're not stable
and safe, you're outta here!" Tears were beginning to build up and she tried
hard not to cry. You would think that she was the one having the baby with
her running the emotional gauntlet. Her baby...
Forget that it was never truly hers. Forget that it was begot in a
sea of darkness. She had carried a baby in her womb and now it was gone.
Forever. Who knew when she would have another child, if ever? Ah, but she
was something different. A useless screwup. Why would the Powers That Be
ever grant her and Cole a child? "That's not my destiny. I'm just the third
wheel in an array of lights." White lights.
Cole, she needed Cole right now. She wanted to be held in his strong
arms and cry, washing away this awful feeling. She wanted to be lost in his
oh so blue eyes and to have her pain kissed away. He understood her perfectly,
all her moods and flaws. He was her soulmate. "Cole, where are you?"
She parked her car on the side of the road and closed her eyes as
she used her senses to follow the bond between her and her beloved. There,
she felt him. He was at the park waiting for her. There was no use in trying
to understand how he knew, only that he knew. She got back on the road towards
the park.
Phoebe ran across the grass barefoot as she reached out for Cole's
presence. "Cole!" She ran uphill and jumped into his embrace. "Hold me, just
hold me," she mumbled from his shoulder.
He tightened his grip around her and kissed the top of her head.
Cole knew the doubts and fears that assaulted Phoebe's mind. They started
ever since Piper was announced pregnant. It was a difficult time for her,
for them both, and he knew that her sisters would never understand. Her
sisters were pink people. Phoebe and Cole were on the edge, dangerous and
definitely not safe. And with the new arrival, that fact was forced more
so into face.
Time had no meaning as the two lovers stood on top that hill.
Each taking comfort in the other. Destiny could not touch him and her
destiny ended weeks ago. So what next? What now? Phoebe pulled away
slightly as she smiled ruefully. "I guess I better go home. My sisters," her
words faltered. "I mean, Piper and Paige are probably expecting me by now."
"Of course." He lifted her chin so he could look directly into her
eyes. "I'll always be here when you need me. That hasn't changed."
"I know. You're something different."
"As are you, honey. As are you." He kissed her sweetly and walked her to her car. "Forge your own life, Phoebe. It may or may not come as a
shock to you but if the whitelighters are running the show, then you need
to find another path. One where you are you and no one cares that you're not
perfect, that you're not stable and safe, that you are something different.
That's why I love you in the first place. You're passion incarnate. Remember
that."
"I will." She smiled and kissed Cole through the open window. "I
love you."
"I know." He watched as she started up the engine and drove away.
"I love you, too."
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