Disclaimer: Yea, yea, I don't own Charmed, unfortunately.

Summary: In an alternate reality, Piper doesn't marry Leo but has a daughter by another man, Paige has a new power, and Phoebe and Cole are together and married.

Chapter 1: Demon Lover
"We're going to be late!" Cole shouted up the stairs, waiting for Phoebe to finish getting ready for Syra's surprise birthday party that was going to start.in about 5 minutes, Cole decided as he looked at his watch. Hurrying down the stairs in a simple, but stunning, black dress, Phoebe pushed back a few stray pieces of her long, dyed-blonde hair, trying to put it in the ponytail she was wearing. At the bottom of the stairs she twirled around for his approval, smiling that smile that he'd always been in love with. Then they were both in the parlor, hiding with all the other guests, waiting for Syra and Piper to walk in. Moments later the two walked in carrying shopping bags and Paige flipped on the lights. The guests yelled, "Surprise!" and the party was well under way.

An hour later the party was in full swing, the now-16-years-old Syra making rounds to talk to all of her many guests. It seemed like everyone she knew must be there, except her father, she thought sadly. Piper had never told anyone who Syra's father was; she had just come back from a 2- week trip pregnant, much to her sisters' surprise. Piper preferred not to talk about it; it was in the past she had told herself over and over again. So when she looked around the room and saw him she nearly fell over in surprise. Instead, she smiled at Paige, who she had been talking to, and walked over to the tall, blonde man in the corner. "What are you doing here?" she almost hissed.
"It's my daughter's birthday party, isn't it?" he responded simply.
"You promised you'd never come here, that you'd never try to see her!" Piper protested futilely, she knew from experience that he always got his way. As though she knew she was being talked about, Syra turned to Piper and smiled brightly and started to walk over. Piper panicked and tried to think of something to say.
"Hi, Mom!" Syra said to her mother, glancing at the stranger curiously; he was the only person in the room she didn't know. "Hello," she greeted with another smile.
"Hi," he said, entranced. His daughter was beautiful, just like her mother.
"Honey, I think Phoebe wants to talk to you," Piper understated. In fact, Phoebe had been waving to Syra for several minutes and the girl hadn't even noticed. She hurried off to talk to her anxious aunt, leaving her mother and father alone again.
"Leave," Piper demanded.
"Let's go outside," he countered. So they did.

The next morning Syra had trouble remembering everything that had happened the night before, it was all one happy blur. She sat up in bed and stretched happily, pushing back her long blonde hair. Unlike her aunt, she had natural, dark blonde hair. Then she remembered the stranger her mom had been talking to, she had only seen him once that night and she was determined to find out exactly who he was. Crawling out of bed, she walked down the hall to her mom's room and quietly knocked on the door. It was still early, so Piper should've been in bed still. When Syra pushed open the door, she was surprised to find her mother gone.
Phoebe lay quietly next to the still-sleeping Cole, she thought she had heard a noise and was trying to figure out what it was. Someone was out of bed, she decided. Getting carefully out of bed, she pulled on her robe and went out into the hallway, nearly colliding with her niece. "What are you doing up so early?" she questioned suspiciously. "Looking for mom. Do you know where she is?" Syra asked. "No idea," Phoebe replied. "Let's find her."

Piper wasn't in the house, they had looked everywhere they could think of, and they were starting to worry. Just when they were about to call Darryl, Piper walked in looking worried about something. "What's going on?" she asked as Paige, Syra, and Phoebe pounced on her all at once. "Where have you been?" was the only question that she heard clearly, coming from Syra, and loudly. "Never mind," Piper wasn't about to admit where she'd spent the night, so she decided to change the subject. And fast. "Weren't you supposed to go to the movies?" she asked her pajama-clad daughter and the girl ran off to get ready.