The Life and Times Part 1: Magic in the air Chapter 6
"To expostulate why day is day, night night, and time is time, |
Leo orbed Piper home and she was all for checking on the kids and it took quite an argument from Leo to convince her that the children were okay and she had to look after herself.
She barely finished before she was upstairs returning to
complain that Patsy was lying on his tummy and Melinda had on yesterdays pyjamas
but other than that could find nothing wrong. "What happened?" Leo asked when Piper finally
came down. He and Cole were both having a beer, which annoyed the hell out of Piper
because she was stuck with herbal tea. "Oh bloody warlocks came after Clarissa and
Marly." Piper said. "Happened so fast its all a bit vague. So help me
if I ever hear Marly mutter about not having any power, the way the warlocks
were after her. I guess it does take magic power to understand all that herbal
stuff. And then they went for Phoebe. She's all right Cole" Piper said
automatically. "They seem to have some sort of immunity to the all purpose
warlock vanquish and anti freeze powers and had some warning device to blink as
I blew them up. Didn't even slow them down. Phoebe got a bit ambitious and tried
levitating up to the mezzanine from the counter after one of the warlock's.. I
didn't..not sure how it happened. She came down pretty hard on her backside. I
guess you can kiss it better." Piper smirked at Cole. "There are certain arses I don't mind kissing "
Cole grinned while Leo rolled his eyes. "Did you get them?" "We got them but between their.. firepower, bit hard
to tell what power they had really, bloody destructive though. And me blowing
things up and Paige orbing firepower back at them, and Phoebe levitating off
bookshelves they, we all pretty well trashed the shop. Damn " said Piper.
" Clarissa needs that shop. Will the insurance cover it?" she asked
Cole. He winced " Depends how the assessor looks at
it." "Can't you use magic?" Piper asked, almost belligerently
" We did
a pretty convincing job of wrecking the place." "No for so many reasons" Cole snapped because he
hated not being able to help "Because I don't want
her whitelighter asking how it got fixed, or yours. Because magic doesn't always
fix those things. You bitch about what I do in the house often enough" Cole
said seriously, ready to use the enemies argument. "Sometimes you get it right " Piper said primly thinking
of the cleaning. "What's that supposed to mean?" Cole asked
suspiciously, and then he stopped. "I'll do my best for her," he said. "I guess that's good enough then," said Piper
with a resigned air. "What's that supposed to mean?" asked Cole
suspiciously. "What happened to Clarissa?" said Leo wondering
if the right children had been sent to bed. "Marly nearly got zapped." Piper said ignoring
Cole " Clarissa threw herself in front of Marly to protect her and fell
over a wooden stake. She was bleeding pretty badly and we though we better take
her to hospital." "Why didn't you call her whitelighter? " Cole
asked. "Didn't you feel Clarissa's aura. Find out a what her
power is?" Piper asked head on the side, looking much like her daughter
when she was pushing her luck. "I try not to feel people's auras and that includes
witches, unless it's really necessary. Feels a bit like reading personal letters
and diaries." Cole snarked taking the high ground. "You feel family auras" Piper snarked back. "That's survival. Family aren't people" Cole
snarked. "Cole" said Leo. Piper glared at him. "No some family are reincarnated
wraiths who.." "Piper" said Leo. "What's her power? " Cole asked conceding while
Leo rolled his eyes. "Apparently non magic" said Piper disappointed at
having to be a responsible grown up again. "Non magic?" said Cole and Leo. "She's immune to all magic including whitelighters
fixing her." Piper said "maybe it just proves magic does not
exist." Leo and Cole looked at Piper. "Maybe not ": said Piper tongue in cheek.
"Those were not run of the mill, gimme vanquish warlocks" Piper
explained. "Guess not" said Leo choosing to keep Durand's
and evil's business out of the family. Several hours later Phoebe and Paige arrived home with
Clarissa in tow. Clarissa, a dark haired woman in her thirties, hiding behind
rather large glasses had her arm in a sling and looked decidedly pale. "You should have gone straight home," said Piper. "I wanted to talk to Cole " Clarissa said seating
herself on the edge of the sofa that Cole stood up from, somewhat gingerly
" I know you haven't seen the shop but I won't sleep worrying. Is there
anything in that contract you got out of the insurance company to cover the
trashing it got?" "How bad do you think it is? " Cole asked.
"Piper said it took a pounding but you know sometimes these things don't
look as bad once the heat of battle is over." "Sometimes they look worse," said Phoebe coming
in from parking the car, and kissing Cole. He noticed she was walking in a very
uncomfortable way, and she chose to stand rather than sit. He smiled somewhat
smugly at her and
she wondered why. Clarissa smiled wan and pale. "Do you think there is a
hope?" she asked. "Hopefully we can make a claim without committing
fraud" Cole told her. "If there's a way I'll find it. Trust me " he said smiling. She nodded her head " I am not looking forward to
explaining to my husband that the place got trashed again" She sighed
" Hell it's not even a witchy book shop, just crafts and gardens and herb
things. If the insurance won't help I may have to make some decisions about the
shop. It's supposed to run at a profit." "Well don't ask Cole for advice about running at a
profit " said Piper. Cole glared at her. "Mike's a teacher" Clarissa explained" The
shop is supposed to pay for the boy's college funds and school fees. Mike pays
for the mortgage, just. Teacher's salaries don't exactly include gratuities for
the cost of fighting evil." "Not to many 'authorities' who think you need any
recompense for fighting evil" Piper agreed. "Well see what you can do to not let me be in debt,
anyway " said Clarissa pleaded "Sometimes I think you know, all the
fireballs and goo are just a front. The real way evil wins is to send us all
broke." "Tell me about it" said Piper. "Boys. No girls " Phoebe asked. "No girls " said Clarissa "thank goodness my
sister has the girls. Witch inheritance is her problem, and expense, not
mine." Clarissa nodded especially as she caught Phoebe's smile.
"You know it would have been all right if that fifth bastard warlock had
not kept knocking your magic out. I was really sorry you didn't get it. I know we should not be looking for vengeance
but there has to be a way that we can save innocents and trash that bastard, I
couldn't stand that evil smirk it had " she smiled wryly. "just the
way it encouraged the others to do as much damage as they could. And the
laughing when Phoebe.." Phoebe interrupted " Clarissa " she said, "there
were only four warlocks." "There were five" said Clarissa firmly. "it
had a name. They called it Willem." "Four" said Piper . "Four" said Paige. "There were five" said Clarissa. "Clarissa "Phoebe started to say. "We saw four, Clarissa saw five" said Paige
glancing at her sisters." Any magic it had to mask itself must not have
worked on her." "Oh great an invisible warlock" said Phoebe. "We've handled invisible demons," said Piper
"a warlock shouldn't e a problem. Its only a warlock." "It must be nice to be so powerful you can feel like
that about warlocks" Clarissa said standing up "I mean they're the
mortal enemy of witches, they scare the hell out of me. I envy you, not feeling
frightened." The Charmed sisters glanced at each other, each one knowing
their own fears, not all of them confessed. Cole said he would drive Clarissa home "I won't be
long," he told Phoebe "Apparently I have to kiss some arse when I get
back." "Piper" Phoebe said outraged after he left
"you told Cole. He freaks so much about me getting hurt I was just going to
get Paige to fix it and not tell him." "Paige fix it?" said Paige. "I'm not having Casper" said Phoebe. "Wrong ghost " said Piper. "Casper " insisted Phoebe "laying hands on my
bum." "Having the power to fix my sister's bruised bum"
said Paige "that make everything I've been through because of magic worth
it." Cole drove Clarissa home. "I shouldn't be so upset " she told him "But this
is the worst trashing by far and at the worst possible time. My oldest
boy has to have some corrective surgery on a deformed hip, and it was
something they did not want to do until he hit puberty and then we had to put it
off last year when we weren't to sure Mike's contract was going to be renewed.
Damn " she said angrily and fought back tears as Cole could so do
nothing but make sympathetic noises. "Damn, " Clarissa swallowed and
shrugged away her tears. "Sorry to dump " she said "but if you knew how much this damn magic has cost me, my
family. And the only power I have is not having a power." "I know what we spend " said Cole thinking how
much the Charmed Ones did slip magic in to make life easier, orbing, shimmering,
and what he used. "Mike is pretty good about it," Clarissa said
"not like my first husband, but when I see the kids going without
things. Especially big things like operations that can make their lives
normal." "Maybe it won't look as bad in the morning" Cole told Clarissa as he saw her to her front door. "In my experience it always looks worse," said
Clarissa with a shake of her head."Goodnight " she said wearily. Cole walked back to the car, sighed and then drove down to
the small backstreet near China town where Clarissa's shop was. He shimmered in
and looked around. It was a small old fashioned and atmospheric book shop with a
mezzanine. It was also a mess. "Trashed, more trashed and beyond
help" he said looking around at half burnt books, walls and blown up
furniture, or rather remaining splinters of blown up furniture. He felt the spirit winds and the slight movement "Its
not interfering with witch's business " he said out loud as if beings in
the greater Universe could hear him. "Its straight personal gain. I don't
want to spend months fighting insurance companies when I could spend the time
with my wife and kids." He flicked his fingers so that not even the most
suspicious assessor would pick up on anything other than a low grade robbery.
And carefully ignored the little shudder in the spirit winds. When he got back to the manor, the lights were out except
in his and Phoebe's bedroom. She was sitting up waiting for him, looking about
15 with her hair in plaits and a long sleeve nightdress with Bugs Bunny on the
front. Cole knelt on the bed to kiss her and then she watched him with interest
as he undressed. "The laundry basket" she ordered as his shirt was
heading for the floor. He groaned, but threw it in the basket, went into the
bathroom, cleaned his teeth came out. She watched him ". "What " he said as he got into bed. "When are going to tell me you fixed Clarissa's
shop?" Phoebe asked. "I wasn't going to" Cole said " Honest it
was personal gain not witch's business. Don't tell Piper" he winced. " 'kay" said Phoebe leaning toward him "When
you going to kiss my arse." "Now" he said grinning and reached over to pull
the comforter off her. On Sunday night after a warlock free day, made interesting
by a brunch visit from Piper and Phoebe's father and his 'new' wife
Margaret that caused a ruckus when both Leo and Cole tried to disappear and
Piper refused to let them, Phoebe and Paige returned to the dining room, after
clearing supper as Leo came downstairs. "Every-one up there asleep? " Phoebe asked. Leo nodded and planted himself on the end chair at the
dining table and helped himself to the last piece of chocolate cake Piper had
cooked for desert. Phoebe and Paige had been insisting she rest rather than go
to the effort of making Sunday night dinners but she got so agitated about not
having them they made the dinner, only Piper then got agitated that she was not
doing anything to help so somewhat sensational desserts had come the new
tradition on Sunday nights. Phoebe planted herself down beside Cole. "I don't know
what we would do if that dish washer packed up" Phoebe said. "Shut up Phoebe " said Piper. "I only.." said Phoebe started to say. "I know what you said," Piper answered. Cole pushed Phoebe a glass of wine and put his hand over
hers. Paige helped herself to more coffee while Piper sipped tea.
"Well" she said, getting up and retrieving a folder she had left on
the seat at the bottom of the stairs.