The Life and Times Part 1: Magic in the air Chapter 3
"To expostulate why day is day, night night, and time is time, |
Cole and Phoebe finally got to bed much to late for people who were working very long hours, caring for children and had no magic emergencies. After Francesca left they ate Chinese takeaway around the kitchen table, listening to Paige's tale of woe about her long day vanquishing the Powers That Be of the community service. Paige and Phoebe discussed a little about the possibilities of the coming eclipse and Cole was silent.
"Aren't you a little interested to find out how the
other magic half lives," Paige asked him. "No" he said bluntly. "I told Leo I would put a magic zapper on the house
so Piper can get some sleep" Cole warned Paige and Phoebe. "Don't want
a repeat of warlock attacks tonight. " "You sure you can't find away to do it so we can use
magic." "We've discussed it before" Cole answered because
he was sick of discussing it "You it put in on to stop certain types of
creatures or all magic. Do you know how many type of evil creatures there are.
And if you use it generally, whitelighters
are sooner or later going to ask why they can't get through. Or even recognise
the reason as demonic power." "Who gives a damn about whitelighters" muttered
Paige as she started to yawn and Phoebe started to copy. "Put the zapper on" Phoebe ordered "I don't
feel like fighting evil this late. There is time and place for magic." "All right for you " Paige said to Cole before
she staggered upstairs " you don't need sleep." "Only if I don't live mortal" Cole replied in the
mock patient voice he used when one of the witches accused him of using magic
for his personal gain or well being. "Are you ever going to explain exactly what you are,
what your powers are?" Paige asked. "No" said Cole . "Nite " said Paige who didn't care. Phoebe and Cole checked on the children. Wyatt in the
nursery corner of his parent's room was sound asleep with his thumb in his
mouth. "Looking hopeful he'll sleep through," said
Phoebe. Melinda was also asleep, cute in pink pyjamas and snuggling
up to her favourite soft rabbit toy and Whosit sleeping on his tummy because
regardless of everything the books said he always twisted that way, was making
whimpering noises. "Contrary like his mother" said Cole but his
voice was soft. Cole touched his chin "Do I have to shave?" he asked
as Phoebe turned the bed down. "Bed or shower?" she asked. "Shower" he said . "Don't bother shaving" Phoebe shook her head and
pulled him down to her to kiss, long and slow. And then more passionate, finally
making their way into the small ensuite off their bedroom, leaving a trail of
clothing which Phoebe would not complain about until the morning. They shared the shower and had sex under the running water
Cole leaning Phoebe against the tiles while he held her with her legs wrapped
around him. "Don't let me go" Phoebe giggled. "You know I won't," he muttered lifting her so he
could bury his face in her breasts. "I do know that " she whispered and then
whimpered with pleasure as he caught her nipple in his teeth. Cole finally left her, reluctantly to dry her hair and
checked Wyatt who was still asleep. "Looks like Bubby will sleep through.
If I was on my own he'd be awake. You're lucky," he told Phoebe as she
collapsed into the bed. "I know," she
said. Phoebe sighed as she remembered a time when she was
apprehensive of the safety of being with Cole. Like many girls who slept around
she had been frightened of any long time familiarity, of him finding out that
she was not the world's greatest lover, that she was not always able to get
orgasms, that sex was something she used to buy affection. That he might even
tire of her or get bored with her. She had miscalculated on how much he loved her and wanted her.
That after all they had been through together, having her was enough for him, a
miracle for him. They fell into some routines, the idea of which once frightened
her and she now treasured, routines that made her feel safe and sure she was
loved and wanted. Phoebe knew she was lucky, that she had a lover who understood
her so well, who loved her to care enough to always make her feel loved. Cole lay down and pulled her against him. She yawned, tired
and happy " One thing I was scared about when we got married, hasn't
happened," Phoebe sighed sleepily. "What " he said making sure she was laying so he
could rub his thumb on the back of her neck. "I thought we might start choosing sleep over
sex:" she said falling asleep. "Not likely " Cole told her wondering if she
heard him. Cole did not sleep. He heard Leo and Piper come in and got
up to tell them Wyatt had not been fed. Piper looking tired and a little pale
came out of Melinda's room, just as they heard Wyatt apparently sensing mom was
home started to whimper. "Its okay " Piper told him but looking very
tired, "better for me if I
feed him" she said. Cole said good night and went back to bed, shutting he
door so he could block the sounds of Leo and Piper sharing a life together. There was silence in the manor Phoebe was asleep snuggled
up against Cole. He could feel her hair against his chin as he half listened in
the dark for sounds of breathing as his family slept around him. Visions and memories flooded Cole as he thought oft the
path that had led him to this place and time. He had memories of the first time
he had seen Phoebe, her eyes lit up and glinting, God was it five years ago, he
remembered moments of pain, the surging feeling of the times evil had
overwhelmed him. Looking at Phoebe sleep, he remembered every touch, every kiss.
He thought of sisters and bickering and moments of fear and moments of trust. He
saw Piper at her wedding and with her daughter in her arms and he remembered
Paige when she came to the family and the distrust and fear and the slow
developing caring. He thought of the times slipping away for a beer and shared silences
with Leo. Cole lay awake for a long time. Some hours later, he moved
a little and disturbed Phoebe who turned and lay on her back, then back on her
side. She put her hand out to gently guide Cole to face her. She knew him well "Lying awake storing memories?"
she whispered. He did not pretend, "Yeah" he said. "Well" she whispered, "make sure you
remember that you are not just loved by me but earned yourself a family"
she sighed "for being who you are. Nothing that ever happens can take that
from you." "Arturo says love isn't a memory, it's a living being
that walks with you wherever you go, whatever you become" he said. "Arturo knows a few things" sighed Phoebe falling
asleep again. Both Phoebe and Cole were up early to go to work. Neither
were particularly happy as they shuffled around each other in the minute
bathroom. Phoebe was not happy because she was not a morning person and she
hated working early and Cole was not happy because he had to go to work at all. After showering and half dressing still grumpy Phoebe woke
Whosit Patrick to change and dress him. Whosit Patrick, his mother's son was
also grumpy because he was not a morning person either. Phoebe had barely dressed Whosit, and Cole was only just
pulling a shirt on when their door opened and Melinda in pink pyjamas came
flying in bouncing and happy. She flung her arms around each for a kiss, Cole
first, Phoebe noticed, then she nearly squeezed the life out of Whosit giving
him a hug, giggling loudly. "Shhh " said Phoebe "Melinda, you'll wake
mommy. I'll get her dressed " she said to Cole "Can you start
breakfast? Damn " she said loudly as she caught a nail on the edge of
Whosit's cot and broke it." "Shh. Auntie Phoebe. Wake mommy " said Melinda
seriously. Cole nodded to Phoebe and grinned as she raised her eyes.
Melinda skipped over to her room ahead of Phoebe. Cole went downstairs and put on coffee, started to warm
milk and set out sugar fruit loops cereal for the children, because they did not
have time to fight with Melinda over healthy cereal or wait for Whosit to
examine every mouthful of it. Both ate the sugar foods quickly. Phoebe, wrapped in a kimino brought the kids down. She
glared at the fruit loops. "Marly will kill you when they're on sugar hype
all morning " she said but didn't put them away. "Marly's problem " said Cole grimly, trying to
encourage Whosit to eat and not get covered in milk. With finances so tight,
paying Marly the witch babysitter had become a subject of discussion, as to
whether they could afford a babysitter at all and how much they owed her for her
loyalty. When she found out how tight things were, Marly who felt she was still
indebted to the Charmed Ones for saving her from evil, offered to do it without
payment. As Marly's finances were worse than their's, Phoebe insisted she earned
enough to pay Marly, and then regretfully forced herself not to walk into shoe
shops, and sighing unhappily bought generic products in the supermarket. Phoebe did
stop the house cleaning service and made Cole, who did not give a damn about
personal gain, one way or the other, understand how to clean a house properly so
he could flick his fingers and get the house up to Piper's standards. When Piper
commented on how the house got so clean, Paige and Phoebe claimed they did it,
so as not to upset her about personal gain. As Piper was convinced Cole could
never learn how to clean a house properly, to Phoebe and Paige's delight she
believed them. Phoebe warmed some muffins in the microwave and sat down
"Chocolate okay " she asked Cole. "For breakfast " he sighed. Phoebe ignored him as she had started to warm the muffins
before she asked him "I get the bonus for the TV appearances this week
" she said "I'm only going to put half of it in the school fund. I
really need the overnight trips away. Us time. If we only stay in two star
places and take the kids food with us, we can get a trip a month for six months
on it." Whosit Patrick was barely 2 months old when Phoebe and Cole
started wandering off to beaches and the odd little hotels they liked in Europe.
Piper had been horrified when they said they were going off with him. "You can't just hike him around the world liked he was
spare luggage," she said." "We can't go without him " Phoebe said logically
"I'm breastfeeding and besides I couldn't bear to leave him." "Its not good for a baby to be hiked all around the
world " Piper insisted. "Its not like he's flying " Phoebe said
"12 hours in a plane or anything." "You don't leave Whosit alone with strangers?" Piper asked concerned. Cole and Phoebe were horrified. " Of course not. We
just go to restaurants hotels and places that were baby friendly. Its
amazing how many baby friendly places there are in the world if you know where to
look " Phoebe explained. "It's possible to have a life and baby you
know." she told Piper. Piper at the time 5 months pregnant, was having a hard time
of it and she gave up arguing. So Whosit saw the Swiss Alps, Hawaii, numerous
small European villages, Vienna, Venice, Fiji Tahiti and the Cayman Islands
before he was 7 months old. Whosit Patrick apparently did not find the experience of
being absorbed through daddy's shimmering on the spirit winds anything to get
upset about. He snuggled into standard baby carrier to sleep, got excessively
used to baths in odd shaped hotel basins and didn't seem to notice that the days
had different daylight patterns. In recent months the baby friendly places had needed to
include toddler friendly places. Piper took a long time to convalesce after
Wyatt was born. Melinda had a very hard time of it with Piper being weak and
Wyatt a grumpy baby which may have been related. At first Cole and Phoebe stayed
at the manor to look after her then finally somewhat tremulously Cole and Phoebe
suggested since they were hiking around with Whosit Patrick one more child was
no big deal. The first few trips were really just day trips with a car. Melinda
suddenly found herself out and about away from San Francisco and then there was
no stopping her. If she got the idea that Cole and Phoebe were getting ready to
take Whosit Patrick out she was going, so with some fear and trepidation, Piper
and Leo agreed to let Melinda go on a trip to a small pension and safe child beach
on a Greek island. Melinda in a country here children's presence was natural
and where she was spoilt by every person in the pension and out door cafes,
flattered for being sweet and given extra special treats and told she was a good
girl for helping Aunt Phoebe look after Whosit was not going to be left behind
again. Piper always sent them off
with lists of instructions
about sunscreen, shade and beach clothing for both children and protected by
mom's orders to
Phoebe and Cole to never let either child out of their sight
Melinda started visiting beaches of the world. "As if we would let her out of sight" said Phoebe
indignantly and only regretted that Melinda's mother was not getting the chance
to watch the little girl play in the sand and water and as Whosit Patrick got big enough
to play sand castles with him. Both Melinda and Whosit Patrick got views of the world the
other children in their play group
would never understand. Melinda found the view of the world sitting on Cole's shoulders
was the view she most enjoyed whole Whosit Patrick preferred the one from a a
baby carrier snuggling up to Phoebe where he could confidently sleep or look as
the mood took him. Phoebe also started writing long advice columns about sharing
life experiences with children which were not always appreciated by mothers who
did not have magic to help them or overtired sisters. "Nothing will be really new to them " Paige said
told them when she saw the children dressed up in travelling clothes. "Nothing will be strange to them" Cole said. "Are you planning on taking Bubby too?" Leo asked
defeated. "Why not?" said Cole ad Piper tired and feeling
the strain of working and running P3 shook her head. …………………………. "So" said Phoebe "You don't think I'm being
a real bitch keeping some money back for us time" "No" Cole said dryly. "Lucky I can
contribute by shimmering." Phoebe came over to touch his face and kiss him.
"We're married, we're family, what's mine is yours." He looked at her
and she sighed " you really don't..hate living off your wife's earnings do
you?" She asked concerned, because she had never forgotten how he
had hated it when he was made so dependent on her after she stripped Belthezor's
powers and left him, she thought, mortal. He shook his head and kissed Phoebe while Melinda watched
with interest "I don't mind in the least living of my wife" Cole
grinned "What I object to is having to work so damned hard and still live
off you. I better go " he said. "I have to finish drafting old Kobe's
15th will change before I go to court." He very reluctantly
stood up and nearly cannoned into Marly who had slipped through the back door
and was glaring at the fruit loops. "That's not good " she said. "Cole gave them to the kids" Phoebe said ignoring
Cole's snort and then, getting up, followed him upstairs. After Leo yelled at him to remove the magic zapper because
he could not orb, Cole took himself off to the offices he still thought of as
new even though he had been using them since just before Wyatt was born. When he
had first started working for himself, taking on small insurance cases and
drawing up contracts and wills and leases, he had worked from home, happily
hiding in a corner of the conservatory and spending more time with the children
than being a lawyer. This had not pleased Leo or Piper or Paige, although Phoebe
was just happy he was working at all. He actually was making some money so he
was very happy with himself, but the rest of the family got very edgy when he
took on a bottom of the market court case for a family with well known criminal
connections and many of his interviews with them took place at the manor. Piper had also
brought him a major client , to his great annoyance. P3 often dealt with
a liquor importer called Talbet for some of the more exotic items Piper needed
for the club. He had in passing, as an excuse for a non-delivery said he was
having legal import problems. The nature of his business meant he was subject to
unlawful elements showing an interest which caused big problems with customs at
times. Piper, desperate for the order, had told Talbot her brother-in-law was
good at dealing with that stuff. Real arsehole tough guy lawyer, she told Talbot
because she needed his imports. After three weeks of frustration, Talbet had
approached Cole. It took Cole about another two weeks to sort out his problems
and save him a great deal of money. Talbet was effusive in his gratitude and had
gone out of his way to recommend Cole to other people. Which was when with another baby on the way the whole
family told Cole he was not working out of the house any more. He moaned and put
off finding anywhere, when Piper on a visit to the paediatrician, which was only
10 minutes away in a small shopping centre in the old suburbs, noticed a small 2
room office which shared reception and other services, for rent in the building. Paige and Piper were delighted. "There's even room to baby-sit the kids if you have
to," Piper told Cole. He was furious. And complained bitterly about working only
to pay rent and that he did not see any point sitting alone in an office located
ten minutes away just to write contracts and wills when he could just as easily
do it in the conservatory. "You don't understand " Cole told Piper. "I understand you don't like being lawyer,"
Piper said. "I've got all eternity to be a lawyer" Cole
complained bitterly. "I want to stay home and be with my kids, our kids.
You get your whole life with them but this is the only time I get to store an
eternity of memories for my family, to live with all the time I don't have a
family " he said pathetically. "Serves you right for being good at lawyering "
Piper told Cole unsympathetically knowing getting to the eternity thing with
Cole was can of worms she did not want to open. Paige and Piper and Leo ignored his complaints. Phoebe
listened sympathetically, agreed it was ridiculous but managed to stop short of
telling him not to do it. As Cole with total ill grace moved into the offices, Paige
called him and said she had solved his problem about working alone in the
office. For half a second he thought he was going to get out of moving when
Paige told him she had found the perfect clerk for him. Cole was furious which
was rather unfortunate because the man Paige was suggesting was sitting opposite
her at the time and was very uncomfortable. Eduardo Degas was 58 years old.
Until 2 years earlier he had worked for an insurance company in their claims
department when he was restructured out of a job, or shoved as he described it
and had not been able to find another. At first it did not promise to be a happy relationship.
Cole interviewed Eduardo in the middle of moving into the office and he only had
to touch the man's aura to know everything he needed to know and as he did
respect Paige's recommendation he was not worried about whether Eduardo could do
the job. The interview was something of a farce as Cole did not even pretend to
do it formally. Mostly he sulked until Eduardo with some dignity got up to leave
and made a comment that he deserved more respect, than to be put through an
interview where there was no real job. Cole repented a little, and thought it
was lucky Francesca was not around or she would kill him for the way he was
behaving. "There is a job " he conceded and Eduardo who
having found himself reluctantly installed in the office was about a week later
prepared to walk over hot coals for Cole. Cole asked for advice about an
insurance complaint for a witch client, by co-incidence the company that had let
Eduardo go. Cole unhesitatingly accepted the advice then thoroughly enjoyed
himself screwing the hell out of the insurance company. Eduardo acknowledged his pleasure at watching the
proceedings and helping some-one who needed help. "Not for vengeance you
understand. Justice" he said. "Yeah and it was fun too" said Cole. So Eduardo worked in the office and mostly just opened his
eyes and shook his head at the assorted family members and in laws who wandered
through the door to harangue, complain, demand Cole's help, drape themselves
over the top of him (in Phoebe's case) or drag him out for a beer at very
peculiar hours, usually Leo after a session of 'guiding' Durand. He
also got used to a variety of unsavoury, somewhat deadbeat clients, little old
ladies changing wills, business people such as Talbot whose connections were
sometimes a little shady and the odd scatty, vague or very intense female. The witch fraternity in San Francisco had passed around
word that Phoebe's mortal husband was very good at dealing with the legal crises
of security contracts, insurance and the odd police visit and coroner's inquest,
without needing any explanations about magic. Leo was not totally in favour of
these clients, fearing that one day one would use a magic scan or pick up on
Cole's power which Cole shrugged off. Eduardo also got used to Whosit dragging
himself around the office putting everything in his mouth and Melinda pulling
everything on the floor. Eduardo had grand children. Cole for his part enjoyed himself bitching about how he was
working to pay off Eduardo's mortgage and keep his family, as well as pay
for rent, running repairs on cars, and buy an extra computer. He was actually
making an income, it just wasn't very big, and he had a bad habit of getting
caught in pro-bono cases for people who were innocent just as he was about to
celebrate having something in the bank account. Which lead Piper to demand of
their policeman friend Darryl when he and his wife came to visit newborn Wyatt
whether the police actually ever arrested any-one who was guilty.