Secrets and Lies: Understanding
by Trinity Day

Posted: Sunday, January 18, 2004

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Charmed. I'm just playing with them for my own (and, hopefully, those who are reading the story's) amusement.

Summary: What if Cole hadn't disappeared from Phoebe's life for several months after she pretended to vanquish him? What if they continued their relationship? What if Phoebe's sisters found out? Understanding - in which Phoebe, Piper and Prue come to an understanding about Phoebe and Cole's relationship.

Author's Notes: I started this years ago. Actually, I started the series over three years ago. I started this particular part almost two years ago. And then I fell out of the fandom. I'm still not back, but I promised to finish this eventually, so here you go. Even though most of you won't remember it from the first time around, I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. It was certainly an accomplishment for me.

They burst into the manor. Prue was first, but Leo and Piper weren’t far behind. Phoebe waited calmly for them on the couch, her hands folded neatly in her lap. She had known that her sisters would come to her, and that she wouldn’t have to wait for long.

Sure enough, the second Prue spotted her, she came tearing into the room, moving faster than she would if a demon were on her trail – or, knowing Prue, it would be more likely that said demon would be in the room and Prue’s hands were itching to vanquish its sorry butt back to hell where it belonged.

“What were you thinking? Were you even thinking? How could you be so irresponsible? This is bad, even for you!”

Phoebe sat patiently, knowing Prue would wear herself out – eventually. Roughly five minutes later, red in the face, Prue paused for a breath, inhaling sharply and exhaling again. Phoebe took it to mean that she was too angry to continue, something she hadn’t thought was possible for her vocal elder sister.

Unfortunately, Piper was more than willing to take her place. “You lied to us,” she accused. “You lied to us, first by telling us you had vanquished Cole when you hadn’t, then you continued lying to us. God, Phoebe, you were seeing him! Behind our backs. How could you do that? You know who he is – what he is.”

“You should have known better,” Leo added.

Piper turned on her husband. “Don’t you start,” she said, chewing him out. “You knew about this and you didn’t tell us.”

“To be fair,” Phoebe said, “he didn’t know for a fact until about five minutes before you did.”

“But he suspected, and that doesn’t excuse him.” Then, remembering that her argument was with Phoebe, not Leo, Piper whirled back to face her sister, stabbing a finger at her chest. “It doesn’t excuse you, either! I can’t believe you, Phoebe. Of all the stunts you have ever pulled, I think this has got to be the worse.”

Phoebe had been prepared to take quite a beating from her sister, but she could only sit back and let them insult her for so long before she had to lash out herself. “Now just wait a minute,” she said. “What I did isn’t that bad.”

“You lied to us about killing Belthazor! Belthazor, the same demon who has been trying to kill us for the last three months!”

“He isn’t trying to kill us!” Phoebe yelled back.

“Open your eyes, Phoebe,” Prue, who had finally regained her voice, exploded. “He’s just using you to get to us!”

“Then why hasn’t he?” Phoebe asked. “He’s had more than enough opportunities. You thought he was dead! He could have come in here at any time and killed you while you slept, yet he didn’t. Do you know how much time I’ve spent with him on my own? He could have killed me any one of those times, but he didn’t. You didn’t know where I was; you wouldn’t have been able to help me.”

“About what about the two months before that? When Belthazor was actively trying to kill us in any way possible. Have you forgotten about that?” asked Prue.

“But he’s changed,” Phoebe said, pleading with her sister to understand. “Can’t you see that?”

“And what if he decides to change back? What if he decides he’s sick of being on the run from the Source? What then, Phoebe?” Prue challenged.

Phoebe turned her head away, refusing to give any credence to the little voice in the back of her head that was agreeing with what Prue was saying. When she quieted the voice, she turned back to Prue and said lowly and painstakingly, “I love him.”

“No, you don’t,” Prue replied.

Shoving herself off the couch, Phoebe stood right in Prue’s face. The elder Halliwell refused to back down. “Don’t presume to tell me what I do and don’t feel.”

“Maybe if you were mature enough to have the right feelings on your own, I wouldn’t have to.”

“Okay – break it up.” Piper got in between her two sisters, elbowing them away from each other. Phoebe sat back down on the couch heavily and folded her arms across her chest. Prue glared at Piper.

“Prue, Phoebe’s right.” Prue snorted, but didn’t interrupt. Piper continued, “You have no right telling her what she does or doesn’t feel.”

“I do when what she thinks she’s feeling puts the rest of us in danger,” Prue said hotly.

“That’s it,” Piper said, stomping her foot in frustration. “Both of you just shut up. Didn’t Gran ever teach you if you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say anything at all?”

“She started it,” Phoebe pouted.

“Oh that’s real mature,” retorted Prue.

“What did I just say?” asked Piper and her two sisters fell silent. “Prue, sit down and we’re going to discuss this matter as rational adults. Do you think you can handle it?”

“I think Phoebe has more than demonstrated that she is not a rational adult.”

“Prue,” Piper said furiously. Prue still looked angry, but acquiesced to her sister’s wishes and sat down on the couch – as far away from Phoebe as was possible.

When everyone was settled, Piper sat down on a chair facing them and took a deep breath. “Okay. This is what we’re going to do. We’re each going to have a turn to speak. We’re going to listen to each other’s point of view. And we’re not going to interrupt. Is that understood?”

Phoebe and Prue both nodded reluctantly, than glared at each other. Near the back of the room, Leo unobtrusively sat down himself, not wanting to interrupt and bring the attention back on him.

“Phoebe,” Piper started, shifting her body towards her youngest sister, “you have to admit that you knew what you were doing was wrong – that not telling us Belthazor was still alive was wrong. Otherwise you would have told us.”

Prue opened her mouth to speak, but Piper shot her down with a stare. “It’s Phoebe’s turn to speak,” she said. Then, turning back to Phoebe, she added, deceptively sweetly, “Phoebe?”

“I didn’t tell you because I knew you would react like this,” Phoebe said.

Piper could see that Prue was dying to speak, so she acknowledged her. After having been given permission, Prue replied, “How else did you expect us to react? He tried to kill us numerous times.”

Without waiting for Piper to allow her to speak, Phoebe said, “But he changed. Even before we knew, he had plenty of chances to kill me. He never did. When we had lost our powers, what did he do? He told me to go home and sort things out. I was never more vulnerable than I was then.”

“So we’re supposed to forgive him because he had a momentary lapse?” Prue asked. Piper’s idea to have them take turns talking had been forgotten, but the middle Halliwell didn’t mind seeing as her goal to have Prue and Phoebe talk to each other in a civilized manner had been reached.

“It wasn’t a momentary lapse, it was a turning point,” Phoebe argued. “He hasn’t tried to kill me – or any of us – since.”

“He tried to kill you not ten minutes later, remember? He attacked us before we got our powers back.”

“That wasn’t him, and you know it. He was possessed,” Phoebe said.

“He held a knife to your throat when we realized what he was,” Piper pointed out. “You consider that not trying to kill you?”

“And he saved my life less than five minutes later, when the bounty hunter tried to kill me.”

“Phoebe, he’s dangerous.”

“He loves me. And I love him. And really, there’s nothing you can do about it. You can either accept the fact, or else hate me. But it won’t change my mind. So you’re going to have to stay angry for the rest of my life if you can’t accept this.”

“Phoebe, be reasonable,” Piper said.

“I am being reasonable,” Phoebe said obstinately. “I’m sorry it has to come to this, but if that’s the way it’s going to be, then so be it. Either you learn to accept Cole or else I’ll leave if I have to.”

“Phoebe!” Piper exclaimed. “You can’t do that!”

“But what about the Power of Three?” Leo said, entering into the conversation for the first time. Up until now he had been content to let the sisters duke it out among themselves, but this ultimatum was too much for him. He had to speak up. “You know you can’t leave or else you risk breaking the Power of Three. That would be . . . disastrous! You know that.”

“You can do that. You can’t threaten us like that. You’re being completely selfish.”

“Phoebe’s right,” Prue said suddenly, surprising everyone in the room. Phoebe bit her lip, afraid that her plan had backfired and Prue was going to kick her out of the house.

“Phoebe’s not right,” Piper argued. “We are not going to never talk to her again, Prue.”

“I wasn’t planning to,” Prue said. An impossible idea entered Phoebe’s head.

“Then wha…” Piper trailed off as the idea struck her, too. “You can’t possibly mean – ”

But it seemed that Prue did. “Phoebe is an adult now. She may not act like much, but she is grown-up so we have to start listening to her judgement. Even if we don’t agree with it, we have to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

Phoebe still couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Prue – Prue of all people – was agreeing with her? “What?” was all Phoebe managed to say.

Piper was only a little more coherent. “You can’t possibly be serious.”

“Why not?” challenged Prue. “What Phoebe did, not telling us Belthazor was alive, was wrong and irresponsible. But you heard her. Either we learn to live with him, or else Phoebe leaves. Besides the fact that will break the Power of Three, I want him close, not God-knows-where with Phoebe, with no way to get in touch with either of them. No way of knowing if something happens.” Her tone of voice made it clear that she believed if anything happened, it would be, without a doubt, Cole’s fault.

“Cole wouldn’t do anything to hurt me,” Phoebe insisted. “He loves me.”

“I don’t trust him,” Prue said bluntly. “He’s hurt you before.”

“And he’s changed.” They were back to the same old argument. Prue just wouldn’t accept the fact that Cole could be changed by his love for Phoebe.

“Nothing you can say will change my mind about Belthazor – ”

“Cole,” Phoebe corrected, glowering.

“Belthazor,” Prue repeated with a little more emphasis. “But I said I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, Phoebe, and I’m not taking that back. I’m on your side here.”

“You say I’m right, but you aren’t going to trust him. How is that considered being on my side?” Phoebe asked.

“I’m willing to accept your relationship with him,” Prue said, with a touch of impatience.

“Remember, this is Prue we’re talking about. To ask her to accept a relationship you’re in is asking a lot. Never mind that the guy in question is a demon.” Piper sounded weary, but there was the barest hint of a smile in her eyes as she spoke.

“Hey!” Prue protested, but she smiled tentatively, too, at the teasing.

“It’s true,” Piper insisted. “Name one boyfriend Phoebe’s brought home that you liked.”

Prue hesitated, mentally running through a list of all the guys Phoebe had ever dated. “It’s not my fault no one Phoebe brings home is good enough for my baby sister.” Normally the sisters would have laughed, or at least cracked genuine smiles, but their nerves were still frayed from the earlier fight. Instead, they accepted it as a step back towards the camaraderie they normally shared being sisters.

“So what do you say?” Phoebe asked Piper.

Piper sighed, but recognized that if Prue wasn’t going to raise a fuss, then she would have to accept Phoebe and Cole’s relationship as well. “I agree with Prue,” she said slowly. “I’m willing to give Bel – Cole another chance. I can’t guarantee that I’ll trust him, but I will give him a chance.”

“Leo?”

“I don’t like this. But it is your decision,” he included all three sisters in the ‘you,’ “so I can’t say anything.”

“You aren’t going to tell the Elders?” Phoebe asked.

“That Belthazor’s alive? Yes, I have to. They’ll find out anyway, if they don’t already know. About you and him?” Even though he paused for only the slightest of seconds, Phoebe found herself holding her breath nonetheless. “No.”

“But won’t they find out about that, too?” Piper asked.

“Eventually,” Leo admitted. “And I’ll deal with that if it happens.” He didn’t mention it, but Phoebe had to wonder if the fact that the Elders also forbade his and Piper’s romance had anything to do with his leniency towards her and Cole.

“Thank you,” Phoebe said, incredibly grateful to all of them.

“We still don’t trust him,” Prue reminded her, on the off chance that Phoebe had missed the first dozen times she’d said the same thing.

Phoebe bit back a sarcastic reply. “I’m not asking you to,” she said instead, adding the word “yet” in her mind. It was best to work slowly, taking one step at a time.

“And we want to meet him,” Prue added.

Again, Phoebe bit her tongue to hold back an automatic rejection to the idea. “Why? You’ve already met him.”

“I meant for real this time,” Prue said. “No more secrets, no more pretending, no more lies.”

Even Piper was a little disconcerted at this request. Obviously as concerned as Phoebe was that Prue might forget herself and hurt Cole if she came face to face with him, she said, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“If he’s going to be dating my little sister, then I want to at least get the chance to talk to him.” Seeing that the nervous expressions remained on her sisters’ faces, Prue rolled her eyes and exclaimed, “I said talk, not beat up. I’m not going to hurt him.”

Her words didn’t do much to comfort Phoebe, but since Piper had turned to Phoebe, her patented middle-sister-mediator look firmly in place, Phoebe agreed before the middle Halliwell could get started on her guilt trip. It really wasn’t that much to ask, she supposed, all things considered. “Okay. But no vanquishing him.”

“I said I wouldn’t hurt him.” But Prue couldn’t resist adding, “Unless he really deserves it.”

There was no need for Phoebe to chide her because Piper did it first. “Prue!” To Phoebe, she added, “He’ll be safe. Don’t worry.”

“Okay. When do you want to see him?”

“Now,” Prue said.

Phoebe didn’t bother to argue, although it would have been nice to have some time to prepare – though what she needed to prepare for what, she didn’t know. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

It took her twenty minutes to reach the mausoleum, almost five minutes of nervous pacing, wondering when and if Cole would show up, and then another ten full minutes trying to convince him to come back to the Manor with her.

“I’ve just spent a month on the run, hiding from everyone on both sides who wanted to kill me. And now you want me to willingly go to your sisters. The same sisters who hate me and want me dead.”

“They don’t hate you,” Phoebe said, ignoring the second part. Cole fixed her with a sceptical look until she said, “All right. They do. But they aren’t going to hurt you.”

“How do I know I’m not walking into a trap?” Cole demanded.

That hurt Phoebe, more than she thought possible. “I wouldn’t – I would never – ”

Cole caught her in his arms, his expression softening significantly. “I know you wouldn’t. It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s your sisters I don’t trust. How do you know they’re not fooling you and it’s really a trap?”

A distant part of her mind noted how it was funny that her boyfriend didn’t trust her sisters while her sisters didn’t trust her boyfriend. The rest of it, however, was caught up in the accusation against Prue and Piper. “They would never do that,” she said passionately. “Never!”

“All right,” Cole said, holding his hands up as if to surrender. “I’m sorry I suggested it.”

Phoebe was only partially appeased. “Please Cole. Do this for me.”

He hesitated only for a few second. “Okay. For you.”

They shimmered to just outside her front door and Phoebe found she was definitely starting to get the hang of it. She was the one who hesitated this time, before screwing up her courage and going inside. “We’re back,” she announced, not nearly as loud as she could have. Any extra time she could get before confronting her sisters was a welcome gift.

Unfortunately, Prue and Piper had been waiting for her and came as soon they heard the door open. Leo was nowhere in sight.

Beside her, Cole tensed. Prue clenched her hands into fists, and Phoebe could tell she was just itching to fling him across the room. Cole had noticed, too, and balled his hands in response.

Prue took a menacing step forward. “If you ever even think about hurting Phoebe, I will hunt you down and vanquish you before you know what’s happening,” she said. It wasn’t a threat; it was a promise.

But Cole wasn’t offended, as Phoebe feared. Instead, he stared at Prue for a long minute, before bending his head slightly in acknowledgement. His eyes never left Prue’s, and he said, fiercely, “I would never hurt Phoebe. Ever.”

Then, miracle of all miracles, Prue relaxed. “I don’t trust you,” she said, but the fact that she wasn’t ready to vanquish him if he so much as moved the wrong muscle, spoke louder than her words did. For the first time that evening, Phoebe began to feel like this really might work. She and Cole really might have a shot at a life together.

“I know,” Cole said.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start. And in the end, that’s all they could ask for.

End Understanding
and end Secrets and Lies