((These characters do not belong to me. They belong to the WB, Brad Kern, etc, etc, etc. This is my first Charmed fanfiction, so please, be gentle, lol.

Warning! Major spoiler alert! Do not read this story if you have not seen Season Four's "Long Live the Queen". Don't say I didn't warn you...

This being my first fanfiction that I've posted in the Charmed universe, actually, in any genre, please, let me know what you think. :) ))

Let Her Cry

'Dear God, what have I done?' The tears poured down her face. She wondered if she'd ever stop being in such pain. She thought back to when the relationship had first started...when she hadn't seen him for months on end. She didn't think it could get any worse back then. She was wrong. She was so very, very wrong. He'd never be able to return now. Because of her. Her eyes focused once more on the picture that remained at her beside...the same one she looked upon all so long ago, at a time that seemed like an eternity ago...feeling longer than it actually was. Her chest gasped for air as she felt the tears threaten to overwhelm her, just before breaking into sobs once more. Cole was gone! The love of her life, dead! Because of her! She helped to kill her own husband! Her fingers grabbed a tighter hold on her pillow, long since streaked with moisture. "I love you," he had told her. She almost stopped everything there, actually seeing the human Cole after all this time. Staring into those endless blue eyes one last time, the memory of that sweet, oh so sweet...yet final kiss still fresh in her mind...the residual feeling of his lips on her own still felt... It was those same lips that uttered the words that sealed his fate. And he still said that he loved her.

He knew...he knew why she was doing it...he knew how she felt...he knew...Dare she think it? It was as if he understood...as if he understood that with his demise, he was saving her. As if he knew...as if he understood...understood everything that had happened over the past few days...in that single...final...moment. And he still loved her.

Her eyes gazed over his cheerful smile...The picture...the memories would haunt her forever...but she'd never forget the look in his eyes when he desperately told her what would be his final words.

Those three words had changed her life months ago. Now those words...words that had filled her heart with hope such a short time ago...would echo in the void that she had created for herself...the void that he understood was to be his fate. And she still loved him. She always would. For with his sacrifice...he understood he was saving her soul.

~~~~~~~~~

"Let her cry...If the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing...If it eases all her pain
Let her go...Let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow...Let her be
Let her cry...If the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing...If it eases all her pain
Let her go...Let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow...Let her be...Oh, let her be."
~"Let Her Cry", Hootie and the Blowfish