Post by StoryGirl83 on Sept 21, 2013 23:15:31 GMT -5
Chapter Twenty-Nine - Relationships
Prue watched Phoebe walk away from the Winchester brothers with Cole. “Do you think she knows what she’s doing?”
Piper shook her head. “Who knows. When it comes to Cole, I don’t know what to think.”
“I’m more worried about how he’ll do without magic,” Paige commented. “He didn’t do so well the last time.”
“I missed that,” Prue admitted. “Cole without magic? That must have been interesting.”
“He got served with a lawsuit, nearly got arrested . . . twice, and didn’t last a full day at South Bay Social Services,” Paige informed her.
Prue chuckled. “You had him working at social services with you?”
Paige nodded. “At least we tried to help him.”
“In his defense he was trying to do good,” Piper reminded Paige, “when most of that happened. He just didn’t know how.”
“Nothing indicates that he knows now,” Paige argued. “I don’t want Phoebe to be hurt, again.”
“He loves her,” Piper commented, remembering meeting him in the void. “It might work.”
Phoebe headed away from Cole toward them and they fell silent. Phoebe stopped in front of them, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “This is going to be hard, isn’t it?”
“What did Cole want?” Piper asked, not bothering with a preamble. Seeing Cole walking toward the front yard, she turned back to Phoebe, surprised. “Is he leaving?”
Phoebe threw a glance behind her and nodded. “Yeah.”
“I would have thought he would want to get back together,” Piper admitted.
“He does,” Phoebe informed them.
That gave Piper pause. “And?”
“And I don’t know,” Phoebe admitted. “I told him I was going to need some breathing room and that I didn’t know if I’d ever be ready.” She shrugged. “And then I invited him over for dinner a week from Friday . . . whenever that is.”
“Don’t you think you’re sending mixed signals?” Piper arched an eyebrow at her.
“I’ve got another chance,” Phoebe reminded her. “I’m giving him one, too. Third time a charm, right?”
Piper laughed nervously at that. “Just be careful.”
“Of course,” Phoebe agreed, quickly. Then in a teasing voice, she added, “It’s not like he’s my ex-husband or anything.”
All three of her sisters laughed nervously at that.
“Speaking of husbands,” Prue commented, “I think Piper’s is looking a little lonely over there.”
Piper gave Phoebe a quick hug. “Be careful.” Then, she turned to Prue and gave her one. “Thanks. I’ve missed you.” She hesitated just a moment before wrapping her arms around Paige. “Just because,” she informed her before she headed over toward Leo and the boys.
“I’m going to follow her,” Phoebe decided, “I want to see my favorite nephews.”
“Phoebe!” Prue protested before she took so much as a step.
“Fine,” Phoebe shrugged, “My only nephews.” She grinned and added, “They’re still my favorites.” She walked off without waiting for a response.
Prue sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”
Paige laughed. “Trying to stop her can be kind of like trying to stop an act of nature.”
Prue sighed, again. “Don’t I know it.” She looked at Paige and asked. “How about you? Did you have somewhere you wanted to run off to? Some old boyfriend to look up?”
Paige grinned at her as she suggested, “Some sister to get to know?”
Prue smiled, surprised. “I like the sound of that.”
Paige shrugged. “No boyfriend anyway. The last one is now a whitelighter. The one before that had magic issues. The one before that,” she paused, uncomfortable as she admitted, “turned out to be married.”
“Yikes,” Prue commiserated.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. She smiled at Prue. “Thanks.”
Prue smiled back.
“Before that was Glenn.” She shrugged. “He’s married now and . . . kind of not talking to me after I attacked his fiancée, even if something changed that.”
Prue grimaced.
“Spell,” Paige explained.
Prue laughed at that. “I was married under one of those.”
“Really?” Paige looked at her with interest. “No one mentioned that.”
“Well, it was none of our best hour,” Prue admitted. “You see there was this warlock named Zile . . .”