It's Raining In Baltimore -- Part 1/?

[deeperwonderment]

Title: It's Raining In Baltimore
Author: koshkaphoenix
Song: "Raining In Baltimore" by Counting Crows
Character: Phoebe Halliwell
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Implied Phoebe/Cole
Fandom(s): "Charmed"
Word Count: 2,407
Author's Notes: Originally started as a prompt response for thelyricalmuses. It just spiralled from there. Most of the canon background for this is actually "fanon". In the game fandomhigh, Phoebe and Cole met while in high school at a private school in Virginia and Grams was very much alive. Chris and Wyatt showed up at the school from their time period in Phoebe's senior year. Yay for AU canons. :)





Phoebe was sitting in the chair in her rented room staring out into the torrential downpour. She wasn't even sure what town she was in, only that she had passed through Baltimore some time last night. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

Did he even realize that she was gone? Had he even tried to find her?

She glanced down at the cell phone that she was holding in her lap, wondering if he would call when he didn't find her at the school. She needed that phone call right now. She really did. She needed him to call. She needed to know that he still wanted her -- still loved her.

She had had no intention of disappearing, but at the time, she had been so scared and so confused by the news she had received. Two bombshells in the same day and it had been too much.

So, she had gotten into her car and she had just drove. She hadn't even been sure where she was going, just that she had to go, had to get away. She hadn't told her sisters she was leaving or even why. However, fifty miles east of Baltimore, she had stopped and made a single phone call. There had been no answer, and so she had called his cell phone, leaving him a message.

It hadn't been her finest moment, fleeing and then leaving him only a message on his cell phone. She hadn't been thinking, had only been reacting from the shock and the fear that she was feeling. Her sisters would be upset that she hadn't called them, but had tried calling him again.

She looked down at the phone again, willing it to ring. "Please, Cole. Please call."

She was too afraid right now to call him again, afraid that he would hang up on her. She missed him like crazy and she was sorry that she had run away like she had. It had only been a few days, but still. She should have talked to him before running scared. He might have handled it better than she was afraid that he would. He might have had suggestions on how to deal with everything.

But she had been too scared of shadows and the history of her family and men and she had run.

Phoebe wiped tears from her eyes and opened up her cell phone. She dialed the number and felt herself deflate when she got the voice mail on the other end. Part of her had hoped so much that he would answer. Was he screening his calls and avoiding talking to her? When she heard the beep, she started speaking.

"It's me. I'm... I guess I'm okay. I'm safe anyway. I'm at a hotel about 100 miles east of Baltimore, Maryland. I'm not even sure where I'm going. I just know that-- No. I guess I really don't know anything right now. I'm sorry I ran away. I know it wasn't the best decision and it definitely wasn't at all fair to you. I just got scared and I didn't know how to deal. There was some stuff I found out and I guess I just freaked out. I'll be here for two more nights and then -- then I guess I'll start driving again. If you want to... I'll be here. I love you."

She closed the phone and rested her chin on her knees again. She should call her sisters or even one of her friends at school to let them know she was alright. She just didn't have the mental or emotional capacity to deal with it right now.


It hadn't been hard for him to find her. The soul bond between them allowed him to track her no matter how far away she was. He had been trying to give her space to work out whatever had beenn upsetting her so much. However, she was never out of his reach or far from his senses in case she got into trouble. He was willing to give her the semblance of distance, but only in as much as she was in no danger. He had been as patient as he could be the last couple of days -- and for him that was a truly difficult thing. Patience was not really one of his virtues. He could feel her hurting and how upset she was, but he had forced himself to wait. It was hard for him not to just shimmer in to where she was and bring her back home. His patience had started to wear quite thin when her second phone call had come in. It was the sign he had been waiting for and he made good use of it by immediately shimmering to her hotel after hearing it. He was in a hurry to find out what had happened and whom he could hurt for it. By his very nature, he wasn't given to forgiveness of his enemies, and whomever had upset her enough to make her runaway from everyone who loved her had definitely proven themself to be his enemy. He wanted to know who that enemy was and make them pay a heavy price for hurting the woman he loved so badly.

He shimmered into her hotel room and frowned when he found her asleep in a chair at the table. It didn't look like she had even approached the bed. Instead, she was curled up in a chair with her cell phone on her lap. When he leaned down and scooped her up into his arms, she immediately curled into him.

"Cole," she murmured sleepily.

"Shh," he said softly, kissing her forehead. "It's me, love."

He could see the dried tearstains on her face when he held her to him and that made him even angrier. The fact that she had been alone and locked in her pain for the last few days had him even more determined to find out what had happened and take care of it. He turned and walked over to the bed with Phoebe in his arms. He laid her down on the bed, and then stretched out beside her, pulling her into his arms. He put her head on his chest where she usually liked to sleep and then ran a hand over her hair.

"Whatever it is, love, we'll handle it," he promised her softly.

In her sleep, she curled closer to him and he let out a sigh of relief. Whatever had caused her to run scared obviously had nothing to do with him. Not that there was anything for her to find out that should shock her. She had learned long ago everything that there was to know about him. However, that made him even more concerned and worried about what had upset and hurt her so badly.

He dropped a kiss on her forehead and continued to hold her close as she slept. He didn't need sleep right now, and it was obvious that she was exhausted. She needed this time to rest and he needed this time to keep a watch over her. It wasn't that he thought she would run again. After all, she had called him and asked him to come. He just wanted to make sure that nothing hurt her again.

At some point in the night, Cole was awakened by the sound of soft sobs. He looked down to see that at some point, Phoebe had turned her face into a pillow and her form was shaking as she cried. Concerned, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him. "Phoebe?"

"She's dead," she sobbed into his chest. "She's gone and I don't know how to go on without her. I wasn't there for her and I should have been. She's always been there for me."

His first thought was that something had happened to one of her sisters. That would certainly account for her being so wrecked that she had run away from the school and from him for a few days. He stroked her hair. "One of your sisters, love?"

Phoebe shook her head. "No, but it will be soon."

His hand stilled in her hair for a moment. No, but it will be soon? "Sweetheart, did you have a premonition about something happening to one of your sisters that you couldn't stop?"

He heard a choked sob and then she shuddered. "Chris. He told me."

He raised an eyebrow at that. This certainly wasn't going to work with her hiding in his chest and him not being able to understand what had happened. He sat up against the headboard of the bed and pulled her up with him. He placed a hand under her chin and tilted her face up to meet his eyes. "Love, tell me what happened."

Phoebe swallowed and then looked at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Grams is gone, Cole."

Cole winced. Phoebe's grandmother was the one who had raised her and her sisters since Phoebe was a baby and she was the one person in the world whom Phoebe always wanted to make proud. It was her Grams who had told her and two of her sisters about their destiny.

"What happened, sweetheart?"

"Demon," Phoebe sobbed. "He came after Prue, but Grams was there and she protected Prue. The demon... he threw an energy ball at Grams when she threw a vanquishing potion at him. He died... but he took her, too."

He hugged her fiercely, understanding now why she was in so much pain right now. He didn't like that she had run away from him and everyone else for a few dyas, but he imagined that the shock of losing her Grams had propelled her into a flight mode.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I am so sorry." He held her to him, wishing that there was something that he could do to lessen her pain. However, her news about Grams didn't explain the cryptic phrase she had uttered about her sister. "Phoebe, what did Chris tell you about one of your sisters?"

"He told me about Prue."

Her oldest sister, then. Not her closest sister, but still someone Phoebe loved very much.

"What did he tell you, Phoebe?"

"Prue is going to die soon. Die young. A demon assassin sent and I'm not going to be able to save her."

Cole's eyes flared slightly. Telling Phoebe that one of her sisters would soon die didn't make someone free from being put on his list of enemies. The problem was that this person giving news that hurt her this badly was her nephew from the future. Killing him for causing her so much pain would only hurt her even deeper and he couldn't do that.

Damn it.

He was at a loss as to what to do to make her feel any better. Losing her Grandmother on top of being told one of her sisters was going to be killed wasn't something that she could deal easy with or calm down about any time soon and he would never expect her to. There was one thing he had to know, however.

"Phoebe, why didn't you come to me when you found out?"

She was silent for quite awhile. "I don't know. I just ran. Chris had told me about Prue that morning and I was coming out of the clinic when I got the call about Grams."

Clinic?!

"Sweetheart, why were you at the clinic?"

Phoebe went still.

"Sweetheart?"

"I needed to talk to James about something."

She was avoiding the question and that usually meant that something important or bad had happened to her. Well, he wasn't going to let go of this until he got an answer. "Phoebe."

She sighed. "I was worried about something so I went to the clinic and talked to James about it to see what was going on."

"Phoebe."

"My heart." She finally said. "My chest has felt weird for about a week, maybe two, and I went to talk to James about it."

"What did he say?"

"He wants to run some tests to see what's going on."

He knew James Wilson pretty well and he also knew how protective the man could be of his adopted little sister. "But he did do a cursory examination," he said softly.

"Nothing conclusive."

"Damn it, sweetheart."

Phoebe sighed softly. "I'm having palpitations. He thought he may have heard a clicking when he listened to my heart."

Cole stiffened. "He thinks there is something wrong with your heart."

"We don't know for sure yet, love."

"But you suspect."

She looked up at him. "We don't know, Cole. The pain could have just been from stress or over-exertion."

"We're getting you thoroughly checked out, Phoebe." He sat up and pulled her up against him so he could hold her in his arms and bury his face in her hair. "A complete physical and check up. We are not letting something sneak up and take you from me."

"A demon will probably end up taking me out before any physical ailment --"

Cole growled at that. "This is not open to discussion, love." He made her look at him. "I will not let this go and then lose you to something that we could have prevented."

"Alright, soulmate," she said softly. "If you feel that strongly about it."

"I do!"

"Then we'll get everything checked out."

"When?"

"Soon."

He looked at her firmly. "I am not risking you, Phoebe. Go and get checked out."

Phoebe bit her lip. "Grams died of a heart attack."

And that would be why she was resisting this, Cole realized. He sighed. "Sweetheart, you know that just because someone in your family --"

"Grams."

"--died from heart-related troubles, it doesn't mean that James or his friends will find anything bad. But I want you to get this checked out. If there is a problem, we can face it head on while it is a small problem and get it taken care of."