What's in The Bag?
By Lunara Dragon

Chapter 1: Piper

Author's Note: This is total Charmed/Cole Turner holiday fluff. It was a quick way to get my creative juices flowing and to combine it with my current holiday mood. It always kind of bummed me out that other shows did Christmas specials but Charmed never did. So voila! This is set in Season 4, before Cole was possessed with the Source's Magic but after he lost his demon half, Belthazor, so between the episodes Muse to my Ears and A Paige from the Past.

Each Person will be a Chapter :)

***
"Piper you can't keep freezing Cole just because he isn't hanging the garland right!" Phoebe yelled out in exasperation
"Well you got on my case about lecturing him. Make up your mind!" Piper spat back
The Manor was in the process of being decked out for the coming Christmas season and Phoebe was pulling out the ornaments while Cole was assisting with wrapping a thin silver garland around the thick oak railing that ran up the stairway. Piper was getting frustrated that the former demon was missing spots when weaving the silver line through the posts connected to the rail. She ran up to try and fix it as her freeze started to wear off.

"Um, Piper" Cole began clearing his throat to try and hide his agitation. He should have been surprised to find Piper ducking under him to change something when the second before she hadn't been there, but this was now the third time that it had happened and so he was more annoyed than anything. "Maybe I should let you do this,"

"Don't be ridiculous you're doing just fine. Isn't he Piper?" Phoebe jumped in
"Maybe I should" Piper spoke up but grinned and pointed at the stockings "You can handle those. Put them up by the fireplace"

"You want me to hang oversized socks by the fireplace?" Cole questioned with a small smirk of his own; Piper rolled her eyes
"Cole you were a demon. But I know that even though you haven't really ever celebrated these kinds of holidays, you know the mainstream traditions. Cut the crap!" Piper said while fixing his blasé weaving job with the garland

"Sorry I have to find some way to have fun with this." He responded defensively
**

After an hour of decorating and being told he was doing it wrong Cole Turner finally turned to Phoebe and pulled her to the side.

"The woman is turning in to a demon herself. I can't take it anymore!" Cole began then let out a sigh seeing the hurt in his love's face "I know its hard for her. She's trying to make everything perfect for Paige and dealing with it being the first holidays without Prue. But I think I'm making it worse, not better"

Phoebe's dark brown eyes lit up as she placed a kiss on Cole's cheek and pulled him in to a hug. "You aren't making it worse. You being here with us makes dealing with the holidays a little easier." She then smiled up at him and whispered "Paige isn't the only one Piper is stressing about."

Cole met Phoebe's gaze with a confused look of his own. He stepped back from her and his blue eyes dimmed "What?"

"You really don't get it do you?" Phoebe said with a small, barely stifled giggle "True, his is Paige's first Christmas in the Manor; But it's yours to Cole. Piper knows you've been struggling with this whole humanity thing and she wants it to be perfect"

"She said that?" Cole responded, still exasperated and confused

"Yes. Not in so many words, but in Piper speak," Phoebe replied

"I think I'll give this whole Christmas shopping thing a try. But on my own if you don't mind. I think Piper needs you here and I need to clear my head" Cole gave Phoebe one last kiss before going to the front door and getting his coat out of the closet

**

"I am an insane person," Cole muttered under his breath as he walked around the brimming walkways of one of San Francisco's many shopping areas. He had come with one specific person in mind, aside from Phoebe, to shop for after their conversation. Cole Turner was going to get the biggest peace offering in the form of a gift that he could think of. But he hadn't considered that it was the weekend right after Thanksgiving and so the biggest shopping weekend for the holidays.

Windows were shimmering with brightly lit banners announcing their insanely low prices, men and women were weaving in and out of the crowd when Cole side stepped around a rather short, stout woman with a stack of boxes. He was slightly impressed that she could even see over the stack at all.

"What kind of gift do I even get a woman like Piper? I need something that says you are a crazy pessimist, but you make amazing food. You annoy the crap out of me but in that charming way...that I hate" Cole continued to mumble to himself with annoyance.

But Cole knew he was more annoyed with the amount of people in this shopping area than anything else. He had taken a train and taxi to get to the Eastern water front in the Embarcadero district. Phoebe, Paige, Leo, and Piper had brought him here last week to the ice skating rink before Piper went off to check out the Farmer's Market for some fresh herbs.

Cole first entered a shop not paying much attention before realizing it was a store that literally only sold sunglasses. "What the hell kind of sense does that make?" Cole muttered to himself before quickly exiting the store

Next the tall man quickly ducked around a throng of middle aged women with children in tow in to a coffee shop called Boudin and tried a pastry. Then as if it was glowing across the way Cole saw it and his eyes lit up. He remembered Piper always blabbering on about how certain wines used for cooking were hard to come by. As if sent by some cosmic power and Cole then let out a half-hearted laugh at his own thought.

"Of all the beings on this planet. I highly doubt anyone connected to the Elders would be helping me..." As he muttered some more he finished his coffee before heading to the Winery's shop that was connected to a restaurant. Cole headed to the back of the shop as he locked eyes with a shorter, gray haired man

"I need help finding a... Marsala?" Cole said hesitantly "Or maybe its a Madeira?"

"Not a Wine guy I see," the clerk said with a smile "May I ask what's it is for?"

"A woman." Cole responded

"Oh, is it a significant other. Perhaps you meant a drinking wine" the clerk, whose name tag read Jose, tried with a smile

Cole choked on a laugh "Not in a million years. But I meant what I said about the wine. I need a cooking wine but you don't understand. This woman is insane it has to be a specific year and type for her mushroom sauce. She will literally flip out if it isn't just right."

"Then why are you here buying it?" Jose asked "No offense"

"Some taken." Cole growled in reply "It's for my possibly future sister-in-law as a Christmas present. I need it to be perfect!"

Both men immediately let out an exasperated sigh. The In-law factor was always that harder parts of the holidays, more so the trying to get in good with them through presents. Jose then motioned for Cole to follow him as it seemed he was taking pity on the former demon. The two headed back and Jose stopped to unlock a cabinet of the more limited supply

"Is there a spending limit?" Jose began and Cole pursed his lips in thought

"Well I was a fairly successful lawyer but I am not Brad Pitt. So let say 100 dollars or less." Cole replied with a smirk

Jose smiled at the answer "Well it isn't nearly that much. But close. Blandy's 2002 Colheita Bual" The shorter, older man's voice took on a tone of pride and Cole picked up on it. The bottle was marked with an award of some sort and Cole felt a jolt of triumph.

"I'll take it!" He said cutting the man off before he could go on to describe anything more about the wine

After it was all wrapped up and Cole paid while thanking the man he continued his trek up around the marketplace to a store called Sur La Table.

'Final stop, cooking town.' Cole thought to himself 'the one thing about Piper Halliwell even the demons enjoy, her food. It seems appropriate I buy her something to acknowledge that factoid.' Cole then smirked. He may have never beat the Older Halliwell in battle. But he was pretty positive he would win in the gift giving realm of things. Cole stepped in as he began to look at the shelves.

Cole looked at every cooking utensil, pot, and pan he could think of realizing Piper had a majority of these in her kitchen already until his eyes fell on a bright, shiny copper pot and multi-use pan. He thought of all the regular metal pans having dings and dents in them from being used as a weapon at one point or another. Then there were the cast iron pots that had been demoted to potion use only.

He slowly stepped up to the customer service desk trying to think of how to word the question. He met eyes with a pair of green eyes that belonged to a young tawny skinned girl with red and purple hair.

"How durable is your copper-ware set of pots?" Cole began

"It's stronger than the regular steel/tin combination pots." Sherry answered and Cole tried to hide his frustration

"Yes but if it were, to say be thrown across the room at someone, per say. How would it do?"

Sherry stared at him dumbfounded for a moment but the girl standing next to her let out a laugh before answering Cole "I hit my ex with the frying pan, and it didn't even get a scratch. It'll with hold a lot of abuse"

"Thank you Clara. That's all I needed to know," He replied letting out a sigh of relief. He then flashed a pure smile at both women before fumbling for the right last set of words "Happy Holidays before I forget to say it." Clara let out a laugh while Sherry kept staring in pure confusion

Cole let out a groan after purchasing one multi-use frying pan and a huge kettle for Piper. "Well 230 bucks later I finally have the right gift. She manages to be one of the most difficult people I've ever known even without a physical presence." He muttered some more before picking up the phone and calling the Halliwell Manor.

"Hey Paige. Can you ask Leo to give me a lift home?" Cole said in to the phone after the third ring. When he heard the pause and then heard Leo say something about cosmic taxis, he hung up the phone.

Cole then walked over to the small pretzel stand and stepped into the bathrooms next door to it. When the coast was clear he saw the familiar white and blue lights start to dance into an open stall.
"You better not complain to much. These are for your wife." Cole shot at the whitelighter before passing the wrapped wine bottle to Leo. Leo shrugged then placed his free hand on Cole's shoulder to orb back to the Manor.

TO BE CONTINUED