Secret's From the Past.

Chapter 4.


Once inside they saw a very modern interior which was a stark contrast to the dingy old exterior of the mansion.
There was a long winding spiral staircase leading up and up and up and it was pure marble and looked exquisite.


Phoebe had a look at painting on the wall and was stunned at what she saw.
It was the splitting image of their mother.
Paige and Piperldn\ldn't believe their eyes either and they all turned their attention back to the elderly man standing ever so quietly by the door.


"Does the woman in this picture live here?" Piper asked as she scanned the rest of the room with her eyes, then turned back to the elderly man, "What is your name?"
The man didn't hesitate and answered immediately, "My name is Charles Morton, but you may call me Charlie. Now, to answer your questions, yes, the woman in the picture is Lady Patricia Eagleton. She is the wife of Sir Richard Eagleton III."
"What did you say? Married?" Phoebe questioned as she walked up to the older man with a very determined look on her face., "Okay, where is this Richard fellow?"


"Sir Richard Eagleton III is in the reading room. It's on the second floor, west wing. Please, allow me to show you the way." he said with a thick English accent.
The three sisters followed him up the long staircase and on the second floor they followed Charlie as he turned left and they were taken down a long corridor into a library filled with books on shelf after shelf.
It had stairs leading up and stairs leading down and more bookcases than one could count.


At the very far end of the room there was man sitting at a fancy oak desk and as the women looked back at Charlie he nodded for them to continue forward.
As they moved forward they were able to see the man a little more clearly. He was mid 50's, slightly graying hair, tall and thin, looking more like the librarian than anything.


They took the final steps and stood opposite his desk He out out his hand in a stopping motion and continued to read for another couple minutes before grabbing his Garfield bookmark, place in in the book and sat it down to his righd lod looked up at the three Halliwell girls, "Greetings. I always knew you might turn up. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm Sir Richard Eagleton III."


"Yes, we know your names. Where is Patricia?" Piper said firmly, barely letting him finish saying his name.
"I can see your impatient and I understand that. I was not expecting you today so forgive me for not being as prepared as I might wish." Richard got up and walked over to a speaker phone that was attached to the far wall, "Charlie. I need you to bring Patricia to the main dining room. We'll meet her there."


"When you say it like that it sounds alot like she's being held prisoner and good old Charlie has to let her loose for this meeting. Why is that?" Phoebe questioned, trying to get a read on Richard to see if he was for real or not.
"Perhaps that's a question best answered by your mother." Richard replied calmly, then began walking out the door and down the long corridor.


The girls had little choice but to follow him and after a lengthy walk up one set of stairs and down another and then through an indoor swimming pool they eventually ended up in a dining room that was fit for a king and queen.
It was hard to tell which sister was more fascinated with the room, but one thing was sure they all were in awe of the beauty and craftsmanship of the dining room table and chairs alone.


Each chair had it's own elaborate design, some had the beautifully intricate an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics while every second one had a famous Roman painting.
There was the House of Ceii, Pompeii, the House of Venus, the House of Vettii and also the House of Livia on the Palantine of Rome. Truly magnificent paintings recreated on the backs of each hand crafted solid oak chairs.


Phoebe was studying some of the different colored scarab beetles that covered the other dozen or so chairs, each one more beautiful than the next.
While the three girls studied the amazing room and it's stunning pieces of furniture Patricia was able to walk into the room and stand at the head of the table without anyone noticing.


"I guess I have some explaining to do?" their mom said as all three girls turned at the sound of her voice.
All three ran towards her and hugged her and touched her to see if she was real and after practically smothering her they stepped back in awe and let her speak.


Patricia smiled at her daughters and took a seat in the large chair and began the long explanation, "This is not going to be easy for me to say or you to hear. I'm not sure you can ever forgive me for the choices I've made, but now your here and it's time you heard the real truth about why I'm here and why you were led to believe I died all those years ago."
Phoebe was about to speak when Patricia held out her finger and shook her head no.


"I have to get this out and then I will answer all your questions." Patricia took another deep breath and continued, "The day I was supposed to have died so many things happened that changed so many lives. The demon Belthazor or Cole as you know him as, saved me at the very last moment. As you know that came with a price. At the time I was weak and near death and he used that against me. He wanted me alive to use as some bargaining chip if all else failed in his attempts to destroy you."


Patricia got up and poured herself a glass of wine and walked back and forth across the dining room floor, "He told me he would kill you all in the most horrific way possible if I didn't do as he said. I was taken to this mansion and was alone for the first year. The second year Richard bought it and moved in. This was an unexpected complication and Cole was going to kill Richard and Charles right then and there and I kept him from doing it and he used that against me to. As time went on I did begin to enjoy Richard's company more and Cole allowed me to see how your lives were going as long as I didn't try and escape."


"Okay, I've heard more than enough here." Phoebe said with some serious annoyance in her voice, "Cole tells you to stay and you just do it? I mean, he's been trying to kill us for years. Even when we were together. So what exactly did you get from all this?"
"I know your upset, but there is more." Patricia tried to comfort Phoebe with her hand but that didn't go over to well at the moment, "Anyway, once Cole manipulated you into marrying him I knew things were getting out of hand. He loved to show me how he had turned you bad. If only for a brief moment it was his shining achievement. That's when I knew you weren't safe in spite of his promises."


Piper was having a hard time understand this as well, "I want to understand what you were going through mom, but it just doesn't seem like the Cole did much to keep you here and you didn't do much to get back to us."


Patriciew tew there would be this kind of reaction and she was more than ready for it and was not upset or defensive in the least, "I know that's how it looked, but please girls, let me finish. When I was first brought her I needed serious medical attention and it took me about three months to recover. Once I was at full strength I spent every waking moment trying to find a way out of that cell he had me in. There was one moment when I was feeling down and felt I was losing the fight when Cole came in and offered me the chance to see you all of you again. Of course I took it. I had to see you. As you well know it came with a price."


"He didn't hurt you did he?" Paige asked as she made her voice heard for the first time.,
"No, not physically. He preferred mental pain. In order to see you I had to agree to stay out of your lives forever. At the time I was so desperate to see you I agreed. He promised never to harm you and he didn't. I was allowed to have these visits to see how you were all doing and it wasn't until years later when he began to get involved with Phoebe that I knew something else was going on and it wasn't good."


Phoebe stood up and felt a little better about the whole thing and did her best not to sound so disappointed in her mom, "I see some of what kept you here, but what about this Richard guy? Exactly why did you marry him? Did you have to?"


"Richard came into my life at a time when I needed someone to talk to. Anyone. He was nice to me. He was caring and funny and he was always a gentleman to me. As time went by I grew to trust him and care for him and well, to make a long story short we fell in love. I know that may sound bad to you, but he helped me get my strength back and my will to fight and get back to you." Patricia was still moving around the dining room trying to make as much eye contact with her daughters as she could to show them how much she wanted to see them again.


"If you decided to fight again why are you still here? Why did Cole keep Richard alive? I would think he would be a big obstacle for his plans." Piper asked, still hoping something her mother said would help make all this make sense.


Patricia was trying to explain everything she'd been through in the quickest possible time, "Cole's theory was that Richard would distract me from finding you. He couldn't have been happier that we got along so well. What he didn't count on was that I've been planning an escape from here for the last year. I still had to keep Cole in line. He had to believe I had lost focus and was content to stay in England and never see you again. His greatest weakness is out biggest strength. He never once thought I would want to see you again once I got married. Cole does not know the bond a family has together. A bond a mother shares with her children. This made everything I did possible."


"I don't mean to sound rude, but is there a point to all this? I'm just happy to have you back. I know you would do whatever it took to see us and be with us again so I don't need an hour long recap of what Cole put you through to make me do anything more than this," Paige then gave her mom a big hug and looked back at Phoebe and Piper.
Piper nodded in agreement, "Your right Paige. We can get the details of this later. Of course were happy your alive and I can't wait to catch up with you on everything we've missed and you've missed."


"I agree. We can spend the rest of our lives talking about what we've all missed, but for now we need to get back and take care of Cole or none of this will matter." Phoebe was very blunt and direct whenever she talked about Cole anymore.
Patricia then walked over to Richard and once more felt the need to explain one last little detail, "I have to tell you one more thing and it is a big one, but please be patient until you hear everything."


All three girls stopped their momentary celebrating and turned to hear what their mom had to say.
"There's no easy way to say this so here it is, Richard is or I should say was a demon." Patricia waited for the reactions of her daughters and before they could say anything she continued, "I know this might make no sense, but it's one of the ways we were able to stay one step ahead of Cole all these years. Richard was more of a warlock and new many magical spells, incantations and other such things that he used to keep Cole off track or even have him see something that wasn't there at times. In the last year Richard felt it was best he give up his powers if he was going to become part of a family of good witches so he had an elder warlock perform a removal of powers spell and he's now 100% human."


Phoebe walked over and grabbed her mom by the arm and pulled her out of the dining room and into a long hallway, "What are you doing? Did you not learn anything by what I went through? I don't know Richard from the man in the moon and I'm sorry I do not trust him and think it's highly suspicious that all this is happening now."


"I know you have reservations Phoebe." Patricia smiled at how protective Phoebe had become, "So did I. So m No Not just about what he was, but about whether I could ever love again. Now I see I can. Please, just give him a chance. When we get back home Leo can orb Richard up to the powers in the sky and they can run any tests on him they want. He is human. I know that."


"I want this to be true. I do. For you and for us, but I'm not going to blindly trust someone again." Phoebe said, the memories of Cole seemingly haunting her forever, "Richard will prove this to me and to all of us in order to be part of this family. When Leo gives me the sign that he's human and when Richard shows me that he can be trusted then I'll work towards trusting him back."


"That's fair enough. Really, I am not asking any of you two accept this without having some concerns. Your my daughters. I know you will do what needs to be done, but once all this is cleared up I know you will be fair to Richard and that's all I want." Patricia was once again relieved and she took Phoebe back into the dining room with the others.


Richard was watching this unfold and had kept quiet the whole time, but as things seemed to be winding down and the tension level had dropped substantially in the last hour he walked over and stood beside Patricia and kissed her on the cheek then looked at her three daughters, "I'm not going to make some speech here. I don't want to use words to impress you lovely ladies. I want my actions to speak for me. I believe in time you will learn to trust me and respect me and see that I am good for your mother and I can't say enough about how good she's been for me. What I will talk about is Cole/Belthazor. I've known him for hundreds of years. We never ran in the same circles, but we did have some contact and I do know many of his trusted contacts. I know some of his weaknesses and he does have them. I also have a great deal of knowledge when it comes to magic. I cannot practice it myself, but I would love to share everything I know with you three if your interested."


Piper was the first one that made any kind of move and she walked up and held out her hand to Richard as if to shake it and he grabbed it and kissed the top of her hand and Piper smiled at him politely, "It's nice to meet you Richard. I hope you understand that were all trying to process a wealth of information in a very short time here so if we seem a bit distant or skeptical I hope you just give us some time to get used to all this."
"Yes, of course." Richard said graciously, "I have to agree with what Phoebe said earlier, I think it's best we head back and deal with Cole as soon as possible, because when he finds out your mom is gone he will be out for blood."


"That's an understatement." Paige chirped, "Still, we do need get back so if were all ready let's do that now."
Everyone gathered in a circle and held hands and Paige orbed them all back to the safety of their house.


Leo followed shortly and was stunned to see Patricia alive and well, but he had no time to think about that as he had to let the girls know what was going on in the city, "I'm glad your back. Hi Patricia. It's good to see your alive. I'll find out more soon, but we have a crisis on our hands."
Piper stepped forward, "What is it?"


Leo was speaking as fast as he could and the concern in his voice was clear, "The city is in chaos and mass panic is really not far off. Demons are attacking and killing people all over the city and the police force is taking heavy casualties trying to stop them. The national guard has been called in but if they don't know what their up against they are in for a very nasty tour of duty."
Phoebe didn't hesitate to give her opinion on what was going on, "That's Cole in action. He's trying to get us to split up and get out of this house where were easier targets."


"That might be true, but we can't just let the demons go on killing innocents." Paige said, trying not to forget the people they were here to protect, "We have to get to Cole directly and once we vanquish him the others will be easier to stop."
"Sure, that's a good theory, but as we all know Cole is never easy to track down." Piper added, then a light when on in her brain and she began to smile, "What if we turned Cole's favorite trick against him?"


"Which is what? Being a pain in the ass?" Phoebe asked sarcastically, not sure what Piper's plan was.
"No, no, no. I mean you." Piper said staring right at Phoebe, "He doesn't want to harm you. In fact he's made that very clear. He also loves to pop in on us whenever he wants and catch us off guard. Next time let's be ready and instead of engaging in his childish mind games we vanquish him before he can open his big mouth."


Paige was impressed with the idea, "I like it. Maybe we could let the force field down around the house so he can do one of his famous pop in visits."
"I don't think we need to do that. This might take awhile to set up so we do need to have someplace safe for mom to stay." Phoebe added then looked at Richard, "Oh, and Richard to I guess."


"Thank you Phoebe." Patricia said with a smile.
"Okay, I have an idea." Phoebe said as she gathered everyone around her and after about 15 minutes of explaining it over and over again it finally began to sink in and everyone gave it the thumbs up to the relief of Phoebe, "Good. Now that we have that out of the way let's put it into action."


Each person had something specific to do and they all headed in different directions to get it done.


Cole was back at his desk looking into a portal of some kind watching all the mayhem go on in the city and was enjoying it all with a psychotic laugh. Yet he was still wondering why the Halliwell's were nowhere to be seen.
He made numerous calls to his demon associates and still not one sighting.
To say Cole was unhappy would be a gross understatement.


With nobody around to yell at or kill he orbed back to the Halliwell house to find out what on earth they were doing while the city was being destroyed.
He walked up the steps and rang the doorbell and was getting ready to mock the girls some more when he found himself quickly surrounded by the Halliwell family, "Well, well, well, what have we here?"


"Oh Cole, for someone so smart you can be as dumb as rock sometimes." Phoebe stepped forward with a potion behind her back.
"Aren't we in an aggressive mood today. What brought on the new found boldness? Did you all take a potion of courage? Good for you. It won't help, but good for you anyway." Cole laughed as he took a step towards Phoebe.


"I don't think you should take anymore steps Cole." Piper said then tossed a potion at his feet.
Cole laughed at the idea the witches could stop him but as he went to move forward found his feet wouldn't move and this did not sit well with Cole at all.


"Very nice parlor trick. It won't last. None of your lame spells ever do on me." Cole said loudly, "Besides, if you haven't noticed my power is in my hands, like this." he turned to Paige and fired a fireball right at her.
Paige didn't blink and didn't move and the fireball went right through her.


"Did you say something Cole?" Paige asked in a highly mocking tone.
"What the hell is going on here?" Cole screamed.
"The thing is you have outstayed your welcome. Not that you were evelcomlcome, but you did a fine job of making us think you did want to fit in. I see now that was only part of your plan. Was I just part of your plan to?" Phoebe asked, then threw another potion at Cole.


This one created a billow of black smoke around him and when it faded away Cole was flailing his hands at everyone trying to shoot more fireballs at them but he was coming up a little limp.
Cole was foaming at the mouth now, "This will not last. When the spell ends you are all dead. It will be a slow death for all of you."


"Oh shut up would ya. Now, I asked you a question. Was I part of your plan?" Phoebe asked as she moved right up close to Cole.
"Don't even get me started on how you ruined my plans." Cole said throwing his hands in the air in disgust, "How my years of planning and research were wasted because everything happened so fast I didn't have time to use most of my plan."


"Is that right? Just how did I do that?" Phoebe asked, not sure what he was talking about.
"How?" Coled asked, actually surprised Phoebe needed to ask, "When I first found your mother the first words out of her mouth were, "You leave my children alone." well, right then and there I began looking into who her children were and I soon found out they were the Charmed ones. The power of three. Oh gee whiz, isn't that special I thought. Well, I set a plan in motion that was years in the making. I learned everything about the three Halliwell sisters and also learned about little miss Paige as well. When the time was right I picked the weakest of the sisters, that would be you Phoebe."


Phoebe was annoyed at his comment but didn't let him see it, "It looks like you were wrong. None of us is weak."
"Bravo. Talk, talk, talk. It's all you do. It drove me crazy." Cole steamed, "I decided that you were by far the easier target to turn to the dark side. To come work with me. You had the history of one night stands and the low self esteem and so many other issues I don't have the time to get into. Suffice it to say I had a 6 month plan to woo you. I like that word. Woo. What does it mean? I digress. I insinuated myself into your life and was ready to win your love. Yep, I was. But I didn't have to. Without ever having to go on one actually date you were in love."


Phoebe was getting very upset at the way Cole was mocking her feelings and it was hard to control what she wanted to do, but she held it all in, "Well, that's really nice Cole. You can make fun all you want but at least I have a heart. A soul. I feel things. I care. If that's a problem for you, too bad."


"Oh please. I mean, I had these great plans. I was going to wine and dine you. I was going to take to the movies. To the opera. To the beach. I wanted to write you love letters. I wanted to show you that I was the right man for you. What a waste of time and effort it was learning all this crap. I could tell after we first met that you were hooked. It was so disappointing. I wanted a challenge. I wanted to meet some resistance. Have to earn your trust. Be worthy of your love. Instead I did nothing and got it all. To me you were the ultimate disappointment."


"You bastard." Phoebe yelled and slapped him across the face.
"Wow. Such passion now." Cole laughed, "I wanted the thrill of turning one he che charmed ones against her own sisters. That should've been my crowning moment, but instead it was like a cake walk the way you turned on your own sisters for nothing. For a man you didn't even know. And Piper, Paige, if I were you I'd watch out for any guy she dates in the future, she's bound to hook up with more lowlifes and turn against you again in the blink of an eye."


"Shut up Cole." Paige yelled and walked up and stood beside Phoebe.
"How precious this is. Paige coming to the rescue of her lovely sister Phoebe. It's touching. A little peculiar, but touching none the less." Cole said with a huge smirk on his face.


"What's he talking about?" Patricia asked, well aware of some hidden innuendo in what Cole was saying.
"Nothing mom. We'll talk about it later." Phoebe said with a smile then looked back at Cole with a very serious look, "I don't know what I ever saw in you. You can be so cold. So cruel. I fully admit I made a mistake with you. That happens when your human. You have no excuse for the things you do."


"Another lecture from the woman who married me, left her family for me and really if not for Piper and Paige's perseverance and willpower you and I'd be still married and living the good life or evil life, however you want to look at it. It sure wasn't anything you did that broke us up." Cole then looked at Paige and Piper with a bemused but irritated look on his face, "Now I know where they got that saying, "I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids." Well, thanks to you two 'kids' my marriage is over and you will pay."
"That's enough Cole." Piper said as she moved forward to be at Phoebe's side, "You've had your say. You had many chances to try and put your demon life behind you and make a fresh start, but you didn't want. I'm not sure you ever did. You won't insult Phoebe ever again. Your time here has just ran out."


The three girls stood back and began reading a new spell and as Cole looked on in disbelief they finished the spell and watched as Cole was gone for good this time.
Phoebe took her hold of Piper and Paige's hands and led all of them back into the house.
Once inside everyone began moving around the house and Paige and Phoebe snuck upstairs.


They went inside Phoebe's room and closed and locked the door.
"OMG, it's finally over? Tell me it's over Paige." Phoebe asked, wanting to hear it from someone else.
Paige took Phoebe by the hand and led her over to the bed and sat down beside her, "Yes, yes. It's over. Cole can never hurt you or us again."


"I hope so. I can't take this anymore. We all need to get on with our lives and now with Cole gone I think we can do that." Phoebe was feeling much more at ease now that she was alone with Paige again.
"We will move on and we will be happy. Things are starting to look up around here again. Cole is gone. Mom is back." Paige paused a bit after mentioning her mom, "Although mom being back could bring on some much different problems for us."


"Oh god, I almost forgot about that. What are we gonna do?" Phoebe said with a mortified look on her face, "What will Richard think? I don't even know him but I sense he's a bit of traditionalist."
"One problem at a time Phoebe. Let's not even think about that for now." Paige then pulled Phoebe in close and pushed some stray hairs away from her pretty face, "I was thinking we should just take this moment to enjoy what little free time we have together." and with that Paige leaned in and kissed Phoebe who threw her arms around Paige and the two girls were locked in a very passionate kiss.


As the kiss grew in intensity Phoebe's hand quickly slipped up and under Paige's top and was caressing her large breasts.
With the passion increasing and the breathing growing more rapid and being filled with moans and sighs of pleasure there was a knock on the door that stopped everything in a hurry.
Paige adjusted her top and Phoebe stood up and opened the door.


"Hi there you two." their mom said with a big smile, "I was looking all over for you. Are you okay Phoebe? I know this must be hard for you."
"I'm fine. Really. I just needed some time away to collect myself." Phoebe responded as she looked back at Paige for some help.


Paige took the hint and hopped off the bed and stood beside Phoebe, "Yes, I thought it was best she get some time alone so I thought she could do that here for awhile."
"That was very nice of you Paige. If you want to be alone that's fine. I'll give you as much time as you need. I'm not going anywhere. At least for now." Patricia began walking away.
"Wait." Phoebe said rushing up towards her mom, "I'm pretty good now. Paige and I will be down in a minute. I'm really glad your alive and back in our lives."


"Thank you both. I will see you downstairs then." this time she took the stairs and disappeared out of sight.
"Well, so much for time alone." Phoebe smiled, "I think we going to have a lot of explaining to do in the next couple of days."


"Yep, but I'm not afraid. I really think it will be good once everyone knows how we feel about each other." Paige responded while still wanting to lean over and kiss Phoebe one last time.
"We better wait on the kissing for now. At least in public. I guess it's time to go downstairs and do some catching up with mom." Phoebe took Paige's hand and they walked slowly down the stairs and into the living room where they both went in opposite directions but smiled back at each other as they began to mingle about, knowing full that once they shared their secret with everyone there would be a whole new set of problems to deal with.


The End.


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The next story will deal with Phoebe & Paige telling Patty about their relationship and also delving further into Phoebe's past relationship with Prue.