If That's What It Takes
Chapter 14 –
Cole and Phoebe were lying on the bed of his room. Phoebe was cuddled up in his arms and was about to fall asleep. Cole, however, was wide awake. He never fell asleep before Phoebe did, except of the most passionate of their nights when she exhausted him so much that he fell asleep before he could even say goodnight. Usually he remained awake and made sure she was sound asleep before he fell asleep as well. After all, he was a criminal and every night feared that the FBI or CIA might find the Mansion and take him away. Awhile ago, he didn't care if they came or not. But now he had someone to fight for. He had someone who loved him and he needed to stay on liberty for her. Surely enough, he had had most of the secret agencies bribed but he knew better than to relax and hope nothing would happen. Besides that, he had also feared that the police might consider Phoebe a suspect and arrest her, too. She had millions of chances to report where his hideout was, but she never did and that automatically converts her into a suspect. Not to mention the fact that she fell in love with the leader of the biggest criminal organization in whole California.
What brought Cole back from his thoughts was a knock on the door. Phoebe plopped herself on her elbow immediately and Cole sighed. Who could it be?
"Who is it?" Cole asked as he got out of the bed.
When he opened the door, he met no one else but Grace. She was wearing a pajama and was obviously about do something important.
"Who is it, Cole?" Phoebe asked as she approached the door. When she saw Grace, she raised her eyebrows. She didn't know what to expect from her, especially in this time of night.
"I'm sorry if I interrupted anything." Grace apologized.
"We were sleeping." Cole said slowly and than waited for her to go on.
"I just wanted to give you this." Grace said and handed Cole some papers. Cole took them and looked through them quickly. He couldn't be more surprised when he realized what they were - divorce papers!
"I really don't know what to say, Grace…" Cole said. He was stunned, as well as Phoebe.
"You shouldn't say anything, I should." Grace replied. "Look, I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused for the two of you. I was obsessed with you, Cole, and now I'm slowly learning to move on. The divorce papers were the first step."
"Thank you, Grace." Phoebe said.
"You're welcome." Grace replied. "I think you'll slowly get to know the real me, Phoebe. You know, the free and cool girl I was before I met Cole."
"I'm looking forward to it." Phoebe smiled.
"Oh, and, I have to ask you for a favor. Can I be your bridesmaid when you become Mrs. Turner?"
Phoebe chuckled. "Sure thing, Grace. Along with Sandra, of course."
Grace nodded. "Well... That's pretty much all I wanted to say." her look traveled from Phoebe to Cole "Good night." she said and slowly walked down the corridor and out of their sight.
Cole wrapped his arm around Phoebe's waist and placed a kiss on her neck. "What were the odds of this happening?" he whispered as Phoebe leaned into his embrace and smiled warmly.
Phoebe looked at divorce papers in his hand. "Come on, let's go back inside..." she pulled him inside the room by hand. She sat on the bed as she watched Cole sit at the table and sign the papers one by one. When he finished, he turned around and raised his eyebrows with a mischievous smile.
"Looking at anything, Mrs. Turner?" he challenged.
Phoebe grinned as she walked up to him and sat in his lap. She placed her head onto his shoulder. "I'm looking at many, many things, Mr. Turner." she whispered into his ear.
Cole was already slipping off her nightdress and removed the hair from her neck with his free hand. "It seems to me you have got something on your mind, Phoebe." he placed a kiss on her neck.
Phoebe cocked her eyebrows at him. "Right back at you." she whispered as he traced his fingers down her bare back. She raised her head from his shoulder and he immediately pressed his lips against hers. As their eyes closed and they leaned deeper into the kiss, she ran her hands down his chest. Cole broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against her own.
"I love you, Phoebe." he whispered breathlessly. "I always will."
"I know..." Phoebe reached out to kiss him but he pulled back.
"You forgot the magical words." Cole grinned.
"I love you too, Cole." she whispered back and kissed him again...
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Morning came and Cole and Phoebe were still wrapped in each other's arms, kissing every inch of each other's face and body. Although sleepy, neither of them could let go. Phoebe rolled on the top of Cole and let her lips slide down his neck and onto his chest. Cole let out a deep breath. "Baby..." he called out "Pheebs..."
Phoebe looked at him sweetly as she stopped kissing him. "What?"
"I gotta go, sweetie." Cole gently removed the hair from her face. "Kevin needs me."
Phoebe slipped him a soft smile and placed a light kiss on his lips. "Okay, baby. I love you."
Cole wrapped his arms around her and gave her a deep, promising kiss. "Or I could just stay a little longer..."
"No, it's fine. You go off. I couldn't have asked for a better night than this one." Phoebe said.
"No, I couldn't have asked for a better night than this one." Cole replied as he got up from the bed and started dressing up.
Phoebe eyed him up and down. "You want me to help you with that?" she asked seductively.
"Phoebe, don't go there." Cole warned but too late. She had already crawled out of bed and started doing his zipper with her teeth. When she was finished with his jeans, she got up to her feet and started placing light kisses over his torso as she put back on his shirt and buttoned it. Cole was breathing unsteadily but she just smiled angelically.
"There you go." she said without taking the smile off. "Now you can go."
"Now I don't wanna go." Cole admitted vulnerably. "Phoebe, I officially forbid you to make me so weak while near you."
"I'll take that into consideration." She grinned and started kissing his neck gently.
Cole groaned as he lost the battle to his heart. He pulled Phoebe into his arms and crushed down to bed with her again. As he began kissing her down her neck, they heard the door open and they jerked their heads towards it.
"For as much as I'd like to leave the two of you in bed all day, I really need Cole in my office now." Kevin said with amused expression on his face.
Phoebe grabbed the sheet and quickly wrapped herself in it, tearing her gaze away from Cole. "Yeah, that was my fault." she giggled. "I've provoked him a little although I knew you needed him."
"I don't doubt it." Kevin said "If there wasn't for me, Cole and you wouldn't be getting out of the bed at all.
"Not true. We would have certainly gotten hungry sometimes." Cole joked and Phoebe chuckled.
"Quite frankly, I think that the two of you completely forget about hunger when together." Kevin said.
Cole raised his hands in the air. "True that, true that. I give up, you're right." he admitted.
"Come on now... Leave Phoebe to get dressed." Kevin said. "Although none of us would mind her staying like this all day..."
Cole shot his brother a look. "Kevin, if I ever see you trying to flirt with my girl again, we'll get into the kind of trouble that rhymes with fist fight and I mean it."
Kevin chuckled. "Bro, I can have any girl, I really don't need yours. I say that just to flare you up a little, you know me..."
"Come on, let's go..." Cole walked out of the room, still frowning.
"Bye sugar." Kevin said loudly, making sure that Cole heard him and winked at Phoebe as she burst out laughing. "Don't you just love doing that?" he whispered and rushed down the hall to catch up with Cole.
-------
"Pheebs?" Cole whispered gently as he walked into their bedroom that evening. "Are you there?"
No answer.
He turned on the lights and saw their bed empty. He walked over to the bathroom door and knocked. Again, no answer.
"She's at the pool." he heard a voice behind him. He spun around and saw Sandra.
"Oh, okay, I'm gonna go there. Thanks Sandy..."
"Not so fast." Sandra pulled him by shirt. "I wanna discuss something with you."
"Does it really have to be right now?" Cole pouted.
"Yeah, the only time I caught you all on your own." Sandra confirmed. "Sit down."
"You know, I kinda hate being invited to sit in my own room." He said but sunk into his armchair nevertheless.
"Here's what I was wondering..." Sandra continued, acting like she hasn't heard his sarcastic comment. "Are you ever gonna ask her to marry you?"
Cole's eyes shot up. "Phoebe?" he asked quickly, just to buy himself time to think.
"No, Gabriel." Sandra said ironically. "Yeah, of course Phoebe!"
"I don't know about that, Sandy..." Cole sighed. "I can clearly remember her saying that she isn't ready for a marriage yet."
"You seem to be forgetting that that was long ago and when the two of you weren't even together." she replied calmly.
"I think she is still not ready for that..." Cole said honestly.
"Which makes me wonder if you're saying that because you think she isn't ready or because you aren't ready?"
Cole chuckled. "You know that's stupid. I've already been married, there is nothing about marriage that frightens me."
"Yes but you've been married to a woman you didn't love, whom you only felt pity for. Phoebe is another story. She is the first woman you've ever loved. You're either too afraid of losing yourself in all the feelings that might intensify when the two of you get married or you're afraid of something else which you're just about to tell me."
Cole closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm afraid of hurting her." he admitted, his voice lowering to the sound of a whisper.
"Cole, you're not gonna hurt her. Those days of your are all over. I don't think there's any other woman but her for you right now." Sandra said sympathetically.
He shook his head. "You don't understand. I didn't mean hurting her that way. I meant hurting her by being who I am - a criminal. You know how it all works, Sandra. They always go for someone their enemy cares about. She'd be in more danger than you could ever imagine."
"You very well know that that's one of the things marriage is all about. Protecting the ones you love and facing all the difficulties in your way together." Sandra said. "Besides, she's in danger already, marriage won't make it any worse. You know that."
"I can't take that chance. I won't put anything in front of her safety." Cole whispered.
"Don't be so stubborn. Why don't you just ask her and see what she has to say about it? Maybe she doesn't feel the same way you do." she proposed.
"If she says no, you know that our relationship will never be the same." he said.
"Yeeeah but I also know she won't say no." Sandra tapped him on the knee. "And I wanna see you go to her and propose to her right now."
Cole sighed. "Look who's being stubborn now... I can't do it now, I don't even have the ring."
Sandra grinned and took a small blue box out of her pocket. She placed it in his hand. "Consider that an early wedding present from me." she winked at him, laughed and pulled him up from the chair. "Go to her. Now."
Cole smiled slightly. "You're a life saver, Sandy. Thanks. I'm gone..."
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"Hey, stranger." Phoebe said as she swam to the edge of the pool and splashed Cole purposely. "Missed me?"
Cole crouched by the pool. "Yeah, I haven't seen you in ten full hours." he grinned and offered her a hand "Come out, I've got something to ask you."
"Nooo I don't think so." Phoebe laughed and splashed him again.
"No?" He cocked his eyebrows at her. "Okay but don't say you didn't ask for it..." And he reached out into the water, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her out. Phoebe was laughing uncontrollably and when she finally managed to stop, she pulled him into a deep kiss.
"Why do I love you so much?" Cole whispered on her lips when their kiss finally broke.
"Because I love you back even more." Phoebe whispered back with a small smile.
"Phoebe?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you marry me?" He whispered, still having his arms around her waist.
For a moment there, he thought she was gonna faint. She looked up into his eyes, her expression unreadable. "What?" she whispered gently.
Cole knelt in front of her, took out the small blue box from his pocket and opened it. "Will you marry me?" he repeated and slipped her a small smile, looking deep into her eyes.
Phoebe fell on her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck. She began kissing him all over his face.
Cole hugged her as tightly as he could, still trying to grasp what had happened. "I guess I should take that as a yes, huh?" he asked.
"Yes!" Phoebe said tearfully. "I love you more than anyone in the whole world. You mean everything to me. There is nothing I'd like better than marrying you."
"You have no idea how much I've wanted to hear this from you." he whispered softly.
"Cole... I just can't explain to you how much I love you." Phoebe whispered.
"You don't have to explain anything... I love you the same way." Cole whispered back.
-------
"This place is wonderful, Cole..." Phoebe said, admiring the cafe Cole had brought her to. It was a small and rather comfy place that rarely anyone could afford being in. A band was performing the song on a stage and they were sitting at a table in the corner, hidden away from the crowd.
"Anything for you." He smiled sweetly. "Anything for my fiancé."
Phoebe grinned broadly. "Wow, that sounds strange, doesn't it?"
"I'd rather say it sounds... natural." Cole returned the grin.
"So what would you like to talk about?" He asked.
"Hmm... Before we talk about anything, I have a surprise for you..." Phoebe said.
"I like surprises, especially coming from you." Cole replied.
"Then sit back and enjoy... I'll be back." She said and walked away from the table and out of Cole's sight. He was waiting anxiously. He cast his eyes on the stage and saw the lead singer of the band that was playing talk to someone he couldn't see. Then the singer got back to the microphone and smiled pleasantly.
"And the next song, "If That's What It Takes", Miss Phoebe Halliwell will be singing for her fiancé. Let's all give her a big applause!"
Cole could hardly believe his ears but once he saw Phoebe taking the microphone, there was no doubt. She was really gonna sing him a song. This really was a surprise...
"You're the bravest of hearts, you're the strongest of souls
You're my light in the dark, you're the place I call home
You can say it's all right, but I know that you're breaking up inside
I see it in your eyes
Even you face the night afraid and alone
That's why I'll be there
When the storm rises up, when the shadows descend
Every beat of my heart, every day without end
Every second I live, that's the promise I make
Baby, that's what I'll give, if that's what it takes
If that's what it takes
You can sleep in my arms, you don't have to explain
When your heart's crying out, baby, whisper my name
'Cause I've reached out for you when the thunder is crashing up above
You've given me your love
When your smile like the sun that shines through the pain
That's why I'll be there
When the storm rises up, when the shadows descend
Every beat of my heart, every day without end
I will stand like a rock, I will bend till I break
Till there's no more to give, if that's what it takes
I will risk everything, I will fight, I will bleed
I will lay down my life, if that's what you need
Every second I live, that's the promise I make
Baby, that's what I'll give, if that's what it takes
Through the wind and the rain, through the smoke and the fire
When the fear rises up, when the wave's ever higher
I will lay down my heart, my body, my soul
I will hold on all night and never let go
Every second I live, that's the promise I make
Baby, that's what I'll give, if that's what it takes
If that's what it takes
Every day
If that's what it takes
Every day"
As the last tunes of the song lingered in the air, their gaze locked. Both of them could feel the heartbeats of another. There was no need for words, no need for expressions. In that moment, they could feel the love like they've never felt before. It was their future whispering to the present of the endless love that will grow between them every day more...
THE END