Title: "A Demon, An Angel, Two Witches, and Christmas"
Author: Pirate Turner
Dedicated To: This is the second Christmas story of my 12 Days of Christmas 2012 series for my beloved and wonderful husband, Jack aka Drew, who's always such an inspiration, and also our sweet children! Thank you, my darling soul mate! I love you!
Rating: R
Summary: There's a Demon with mischief in mind in Piper's kitchen on Christmas Eve.
Timeline: Takes place after the author's "A Blessing or a Curse?", "The Day After", "Howling From A Distance", "Unsaveable", "Howling Hopes For The Future", "True Love's Power", and "Ring of Love"
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: 244. That's the number of stories that were sitting on my hard drive collecting dust because I lack the energy and time to take care of them as I once did. My betaing pattern has always been to write, then type up if written on paper, the story, read it aloud to my beloved Jack and our children, editing as I go, and then finally format and post. Sadly, this part is simply taking too much of my time and energy, and my beloved Jack and I have too little time together in person these days to be able to keep up with my stories. So what to do? Give up writing? I actually considered it for a while, tried to make excuses to myself other than the large number of stories collecting cyber dust on my computer, as to why I lacked the energy and Muse to write new tales. And then, with the turn of the new year, I decided to stop running and face the problem. The problem is, quite frankly, that once one gets so bogged down in formatting and editing that writing is no longer a pleasure but the actual posting of those writings becomes a hassle and - egad! - work, it's time to cut something out, and that will never be the writing process. So, in short, yes, there will be mistakes in this tale. Yes, it's missing about half of the header information I usually include. But I wrote it for pleasure and am posting it in hopes of sharing that pleasure with others. Do with it as you will.
She knew the moment he entered what he wanted from the bold, mischievous grin on his handsome face and the wicked, Devil-doesn't-care sparkle in his alluring, dark eyes. "Cole," she said, stopping him short as she took a pan out of the oven, "not now. I've got less than twenty minutes until dinner's on the table."
"Nobody's home," he advised her gently, "except us." He walked around her as she stooped to pull another pan out of the oven and ran his fingers lightly underneath her sweater.
Piper jumped but couldn't deny the thrills racing through her. "Cole!" she snapped over the jingling music in the background. "They'll be home any minute now! I do not want Leo and Phoebe orbing in on us . . . " She flustered, turning a bright red. She set the pan on the table before she could drop it. She tried again but still couldn't say the words.
"Come on," he urged gently, wrapping his arms around her. "You can say it. There's nothing wrong with saying the words." He dropped down against her, his muscular front sliding erotically down her back. Piper clamped down on the hot pan she was still touching as a thousand - no, make that a million, she thought as he shifted his posture just slightly - tingles of natural electricity sparked by her Demon shot fully into her. Then, her Demon showed just how much of a gentleman he could be as, out of all the words he could have said, he whispered against her ear, "You don't want to be caught making love to me."
She blushed, and at the same time, melted. His voice was so caring, so sweet, deep, and romantic that his words alone would have been enough to make any woman melt, but there was also an ache to his tone. That ache was caused solely by his overwhelming need for the woman he loved, but it reminded Piper of an old argument between them and so played on every one of her heart strings.
"Cole Turner," she started hotly, "you know very well that is not the case! I love you, and I don't care if you're a Demon!"
She heard his broadening grin in his rich voice. "I didn't say you did." She saw a flash of movement and looked down to where his left hand was steadily sweeping toward her tray of completely decorated cookies. Her brown eyes narrowed in suspicion. Surely he wasn't doing a Leo and coming on to her only to get her cookies?
"It's just," he continued as he lifted a gingerbread man, "that normally, when a guy likes a girl and she likes him back, they do certain things." Piper gasped in surprise as he turned the little, innocent gingerbread man upside down and placed him firmly on top of one of her little gingerbread people with frosted, blue skirts and chocolate curls.
"Cole Turner!" she shrieked her indignation, whirled around, and slapped his shoulder.
He laughed. She'd reacted exactly the way he'd wanted her to. He wrapped his arms back around her and pulled her struggling form up hard and close against him. Her dark eyes flashed furiously at him. "I don't believe you did that!"
He laughed again and then shrugged. "Well, if that's a Cole cookie, and the other one's a Piper cookie . . . "
She continued to glower at him, but the corners of her sugar-kissed lips gave a tiny twitch in the upward direction. "Cole Turner, you are so . . . " she started to declare but then found she was unable to locate one word in her entire vocabulary that truly described how silly and crazy he was acting. " . . . so . . . "
"What am I, Piper," he asked softly, his mouth angling in for hers again, "besides yours?"
She beamed at him as her resistance to his wonderful charm finally failed the rest of the way. She opened her mouth to agree, thinking that he was hers and she was his but he was still crazy, when he took the opportunity and dropped his hot and eager mouth onto hers. His tongue slid right into her warm mouth.
Desire and ecstasy crashed through Piper, warring with her senses of responsibility and propriety. It was Christmas. It was time to be doing for her family, preparing for and honoring those she loved with wonderful gifts and a feast they would remember until next year. But who did she love more than Cole? No one.
The gifts were wrapped and stuck underneath the tree. The house was alight with glowing candles and basking with the warmth of the heater, the oven, and good tidings. Almost everything for the feast was either already laid out on the long table Cole had gotten for her for this very occasion. What remained to be put out was still cooking in the stove, and all of those dishes would come due at the same time - in twenty minutes.
What could she do in twenty minutes? She could let Cole have his way. She could give them both what they wanted. Piper had already been returning her beloved's passion kiss for kiss, but now, at last, she gave completely in. She allowed her eyes to drift closed and moaned her pleasure, opening her mouth wide and giving his eager tongue more room to explore her insides. She could let her heart rule, and that was exactly what she was going to do!
Her hands went around the man she loved and massaged the taut skin of his lower back. Her tongue perked up and met his. Cole felt like whooping for joy when Piper's tongue slid around his. He was as happy as a little boy who'd just unwrapped every present he'd ever so much as considered wanting, and in a way, he supposed he was that boy. Every person had a child within them, after all. Christmas brought out the kid in everybody, and Piper was definitely all he could ever want.
He cracked one eye open and looked at the table. Spying an empty spot, where she no doubt planned to put the turkey, Cole lifted his wife and headed for that spot on the banquet table. He kept kissing her the entire time as he carried her, his tongue and stroking hands seeking to give her all the pleasure in the world.
He placed her on the table between the sweet potatoes and deviled eggs, and to his delight, Piper forgot to protest. Instead, as her long, black hair fell around his cotton-clad shoulders in waves of silk, her legs wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer until his straining manhood was only separated from its goal by their blue jeans.
Piper's moan made him want to rip apart their jeans and plunge deep into her sweetness, but he kept control and tightly reigned in his impulses. Every time they made love, he did his best to control his Demon and make the occasion more about pleasuring the woman he loved than gratifying his own greedy and base desires.
His hands returned to her warm flesh beneath her red, Christmas sweater. He slid his palms underneath her smooth back, then slipped his hands to her front. He ran over her stomach, his fingers caressing her quickly, before tugging her sweater free from her jeans to give him more room to operate.
He moaned through their kiss as his hands cupped her breasts. They were smaller than some women he'd known, but they were all natural and filled his hands perfectly. He rubbed her; his brisk rubs gradually became smoother caresses. He brushed her hardening nipples with his thumbs. Her tongue swallowed his moans.
Somewhere in their home, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" was playing. He groaned. He wanted to gallop on her like a reindeer! He yearned to ride her into higher throws of passion than ever before! He wanted her to buck below and above him with his stallion riding high in her saddle where it belonged!
Cole could hear both their heartbeats pounding like the thundering hooves described in the Christmas carol, but his fondest wish almost came true as his beloved, sweet, cherished, and still mostly innocent Piper hooked her fingers into his jeans and started to undo his top button. He nearly came on the spot with her arched fingers so close to touching his swollen member. He probably would have, too, if he hadn't heard the telltale, twinkling sound of a blasted Angel orbing in. "Leo," he growled as Piper immediately jumped back, breaking their kiss and snatching her hands away from his fly. Her blush was as red as her sweater.
"You have to expect to be interrupted, Cole," Leo returned as Cole reluctantly helped Piper off of the table, "if you're going to try to make love on the dinner table at supper time."
"It's not . . . " Cole started to say but was interrupted by Piper's timer going off. He sighed. He supposed it was time to eat, but he'd be damned if he wanted to eat food! Even the most scrumptious dinners prepared by the best chef in the world, his beloved Piper, could not compare to the delicious taste of his soul mate.
"I didn't want to eat behind you doing that, any way," Leo continued, causing Piper's blush to deepen and Cole to glower at him. The Demon let his eyes turn black for a moment and reaped pleasure in the way Leo's skin paled.
"Boys," Phoebe started at Piper turned silently to pulling her foods out of the oven. She would look at none of them out of her embarrassment until her baby sister caught her eye and grinned. "It's Christmas," she reminded them. "You'd think you two could get along for a change instead of acting like two spoiled kids."
"Sorry, Phoebe," Cole said, "but it's not like everybody can escape to the clouds for a little privacy." He shot a pointed look at Leo. "Not that I would want that falling on my head, either."
Phoebe made a face. She'd never thought about it that way before! She pulled a wisp of cloud from her brown hair and looked sheepish.
Piper, meanwhile, was removing the main course from her busy oven. She set the tray down with a loud clatter between the men just as they were sliding closer to each other. As the pan hit the mahogany table, however, another loud sound erupted from outside.
All four people looked up in the direction of the street before the Halliwell Manor. "When is he going to get a new car?" Leo questioned.
"Probably never," Phoebe began to say but was interrupted by Cole.
"It's not like the guy's got a lot of money, Leo. Most of the work he does is for charity."
"Leave it to Prue to hook a doctor who's poor." Phoebe's giggle was cut short by Piper's glower. "Besides, if it wasn't for his piece of junk car, he never would have met Prue."
"I don't know about that." Piper smiled and slid her hand into Cole's. He looked at her in surprise, then grinned proudly and finally stopped cutting angry eyes at Leo. "They're destined for each other, just like us and you and Leo. They would have found each other one way or another." She shrugged. "The car just helped it happen a little faster."
"That's true," Leo agreed. Taking his cherished Phoebe into his arms, he smiled at his ex-wife and her still relatively new husband, who, as the twisted fate in their lives would have it, was also his new wife's ex-boyfriend. "This all smells delicious, Piper."
"It is delicious!" Cole enthused, giving his love a little squeeze. "But, you know, Leo, what I think would help make both of our loves' Christmas much better is if we can agree, for tonight, at least, to get along." His dark eyes warned the White Lighter he'd knock him one if he didn't agree with him. Leo agreed readily and would have regardless of the look the Demon was thundering his way. "Merry Christmas, Cole."
Cole nodded curtly, his grasp on Piper tightening unconsciously. "Merry Christmas, Leo."
"Good." Phoebe grinned as Piper leaned closer into Cole, the adjustment of her body telling him she was proud of him. "Now that that's settled and you two boys are going to stop acting like jackasses, let's eat!"
Piper laughed at her younger sister as their husbands' expressions again darkened. "Merry Christmas, Phoebe," she said, "and no name calling."
"Okay." Phoebe grinned and headed for the plates. "Let's eat!"
Piper shook her head and laughed again. Cole and Leo shared their first real, cojoined smile of the evening. "She always has had a one track mind," Leo commented softly.
"Yeah," Cole agreed.
"Merry Christmas, everybody!" Prue called eagerly and brightly as she and Brendan strode into the kitchen.
She was the happiest she could ever remember seeing her on a holiday since their father had left, Piper reflected silently upon seeing the joyful glow on her older sister's face. She found her glow contagious as she hugged her. Why shouldn't they be happy? They finally had their soul mates at last and a beautiful Christmas and magical new year just ahead! They had every reason to be completely happy, for the first time in their lives since they'd been kids, and to celebrate to the nines or, rather, in their case, threes. "Merry Christmas," she returned brightly and hugged her family close to her heart not just throughout that Christmas Eve but throughout all the years, days, and nights to come.
The End