It's still Magic

AN: Ok, here it is the sequel to Despite it all. I think you probably have to read that to understand this; I'll try and work in some explanations, but I'm making no promises – sorry. But for anyone that hasn't read, I guess I'll just said that it deal with bringing Cole back. Sorry it has taken so long.

Disclaimer: Neither Charmed nor any of its characters belong to me, well except Bryan and his family. So, please don't sue.

Prologue

"Mommy, what's going on?"

The young voice came from the door of the attic and it made everyone turn towards it. Just inside the doorway stood four year old Wyatt, who was supposed to be asleep. Both he and his brother, Chris, had been sent to bed at their usual bedtime, which had given them enough time to fall asleep since the ritual to bring Cole back hadn't been performed until midnight.

Piper moved toward her son and said as she bend to picked him up, "What are you doing out of bed, young man? You're supposed to be asleep."

"I woke up when I heard noises coming from up here. I went to your room but neither you nor Daddy were there."

"So you thought you'd come up here and check, uh, little man?" Leo asked, running his hand gently through his son's hair as it lay on his wife's shoulder.

"Uhm," the child nodded his head, "wanted to know what was going on."

Leo looked at Piper who then turned and looked at her sisters. They should have known something like this may happened. They had been extremely careful to keep the research into bringing Cole back away from the kids; but they were pretty institutive kids, especially Wyatt, and must have known something was happening tonight. The wind and the noise the ritual had made sure didn't help matters.

Both of her sisters had by now reached the doorway and immediately reached out to comfort their nephew. Cole, who had come right behind Phoebe, stayed a bit behind them observing the family come together for the sake of the child.

"It's ok, sweetie," said Phoebe in a soothing voice, "nothing's the matter. We were just having a little . . ." here she paused to try and find the right word to explain just what they had been doing. While they haven't ever actually hidden their magic from the kids, not that they could since both kids had powers of their own, they didn't think that flaunting it in their faces all the times was right. So, they try to teach the kids how to deal with their powers and at the same time keep their work as Charmed Ones as far away from them as possible.

Seeing that Phoebe was having trouble finishing the explanation, Paige took it up and said, "experiment." At this all adults turned to look at her with various looks of surprise on their faces; Leo had to actually turn his head away from Wyatt's view to hide his smirk at the thought. Paige, seeing everyone's faces, just shrugged as if to say 'what, you have a better idea?' and went back to talking to Wyatt. "Your mommy and auntie Phoebe and I were doing a little experiment that became a bit too loud."

As neither her nor Phoebe had a better idea, Piper decided to go with Paige's explanation and added, "we're sorry Wyatt. We didn't think it'd get so loud; we really didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's ok, mommy." Wyatt answered, but by this time his eyes had landed in Cole and he was looking at him with intense curiosity.

Seeing this, Phoebe decided that this was a good time as any to make the introductions. So, she took Cole's hand and as she pulled him closer to her and Wyatt said, "Wyatt, honey, here's someone I want you to meet." Pulling Cole next to her, she stated, "this is Cole" and then because she had already decided that she was going to spend the rest of her life with him and because to her that only meant one thing, she added, "your uncle Cole."

When he heard this, Cole turned to her so fast that he might have gotten whiplash. The expression on his face was one of complete and utter astonishment and made Phoebe want to laugh out loud, though she refrained not wanting to insult him. Her sisters and Leo also turned to look at her, but they didn't seem to be anywhere near as surprise; they in fact had been waiting for such an announcement. They had just thought it would come a bit later, like after she'd talk it over with Cole. Seeing the expression on Cole's face, however, they could see that that hadn't happen and this was the first Cole heard of this. They also had the urge to laugh, but refrained thinking it was not the time.

After he recovered a bit, Cole said, "Hi, Wyatt. How're you doing?"

"I'm fine, thank you." His mommy was always telling him to mind his manners and he always listened to his mommy. But as soon as his duty was done, he asked with that childish curiosity and forthrightness that all children have, "Are you going to marry my Auntie Phoebe?"

As Cole looked into the child's eyes, he could see that somehow, he had inherited a bit of Phoebe's spirit and had the fleeting thought that his parents would need all the help they could get. "Yes, apparently I am," he answered after only a moment's hesitation and with a sideways glance at Phoebe.

Phoebe just grinned widely; she had everything she had ever wanted: the man she loved and her family right by her side. Nothing could spoil this night for her. She took Wyatt from his mother's arms and told him, "Now, we just have to plan the wedding. Would you like to help?" At his nod, she beamed and continued, "Great! Then we're going to have to find something for you and your brother to do – maybe carrying in the rings or just groomsmen; we'll see." She then looked at her watch and said, "maybe we should go to bed, Wyatt has school tomorrow and I have a wedding to start planning."

"Phoebe," Piper called out before Phoebe waltzed out of the attic, "are you planning on a big wedding? Didn't you already do that?"

Phoebe turned at the threshold of the attic's door and answered, "That doesn't count, Piper. Cole wasn't really himself then, right sweetie?" She turned and looked at Cole, who was still standing where she left him.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." He answered in a voice that showed he was still in shock.

"See, he wasn't himself. It's only fair that he be present at a big wedding, since this is the last he'll ever have." She told Piper and then turned back to Cole, "come on, baby, let's go to bed. You must be tire, I know I'm beat." She reached out with her free hand and pulled Cole out of the attic. As she went down the stairs, the others could hear her going on about what she wanted in her wedding.

Piper looked at the space where her sister had been standing and then looked at Paige and Leo and said, "I guess we'll be having a big wedding soon." She looked at the mess the ritual had made of the attic and sighed, "I supposed we better start cleaning up." Piper's day had been long and she was tired but she was the type of person who could not go to bed knowing there was a mess in the house.

Paige waved her off and told her, "Don't worry about it, Piper. I'll do it. You go on back to bed."

"Are you sure, sweetie?" Piper wanted nothing more than to do just that but she didn't think it fair to leave Paige with the whole mess. Phoebe should have stayed but . . .

"Yes, Piper, I'm sure. I know you're beat and my day wasn't as long as you, so I'm fine. Just go, shoo."

"Ok, I'm going. Thank you, Paige. Let's go, Leo. I'm beat."

"You're welcome and 'Night."

"'Night, Paige." Leo called back as he followed his wife out of the attic.

Paige sighed as she saw them hold hands and go down the stairs. She thought how lucky her sisters were to have found the loves of their lives and wished she could do the same.

As she went to put the BOS back in its place, she briefly considered the idea of saying a spell so that she could meet the love of her life, but rejected the idea almost as soon as she thought it. She'd already done some love spells and they never worked like she hoped; she supposed it had to do with the whole 'no personal gain' thing. That rule something was a real pain in the behind.

It took her less than thirty minutes to clean up the attic, it looked worse than it really was, and she spent the whole time dreaming about the love of her life and wondering where he was and what he was doing.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A few miles south of the manner in a very nice apartment, Bryan E. Macintyre looked up from the brief he was reading. He had clearly heard someone call him, but there was no one in his apartment since he lived alone. After looking around the living room and making sure no one had sneaked up on him, he sighed and rubbed his eyes – he was getting a monstrous headache from so much reading. He looked at his watch and he brought his hand back and saw that it was nearly 1:30 in the morning. He looked at the brief again and after a few second he determinedly snapped it shut. He was dead tired and wouldn't remember anything else anything he'd read, so he might as well go to bed and sleep – tomorrow would be another long day.

As he settled down in bed, he decided to talk with the partners at the law firm first thing in the morning. It was time that they bring in another lawyer to replace Karen; it was obvious she wasn't coming back; the call of motherhood was more compelling than that of the law. He just hoped it wouldn't be long until they found a suitable replacement. The last time they went looking, it had taken months before finally finding Aaron Mazley.

He fell asleep thinking of the best places to look for candidates; of that wonderful pizza that place in downtown served and of his plans to go there for lunch for tomorrow; and of the odd feeling he'd been getting lately that someone was waiting for him.