Charmed
Title:To Love Again
Author:Teri Thibeault AKA Tessalynne
Pairing:Cole/Piper
Rating:K/ T, YT / T - Mild Language and Adult/Sexual Situations
Disclaimer:"Charmed" and all related characters and events are the property of the WB television network, except for any characters specifically created for this story. This is a work of fan fiction and no infringement of copyright is intended.
Author's Notes:This series began as a single POV piece and took on a life of it's own from there. It was inspired by an opening line requirement for a writing contest. As the pairing indicates, it is AU and though it follows no particular timeline there are a couple of things to note. Leo is an Elder, Cole retains his powers as Belthazor and never became the Source, Wyatt was never born and Phoebe works at the Bay Mirror with Jason Dean. For those who have followed this story from its beginning, all the individual segments are now combined into this single work. (No more backtracking to find the previous piece) While it saddened me to lose all your inspiring reviews, it seemed fairer to the reader to combine the pieces into a single story. The chapters retain the titles of the original individual pieces.
Part 1 - Heaven or Hell
Hell had found him. There had never been any question that it would happen, over a century of demonic activity had more than guaranteed that it would come to pass. But, as was often the case with any long anticipated event, it was the form it took that was surprising. These were Cole Turner's first thoughts as he watched Piper climb the stairs.
Cole turned away from the stairs with a sigh and sat down heavily on the sofa. How the hell had this happened? The merrily twinkling Christmas lights mocked his troubled thoughts and drew his eyes to the seemingly harmless sprig of mistletoe. That damned little plant had started all kinds of trouble tonight. No, that wasn't true. If he were going to be brutally honest with himself, Cole would have to admit that the trouble had started long before tonight. He just needed to sort out how things had come to this point.
It had been almost three years since the Triad had sent him to destroy the Charmed Ones. Three years since the mighty Belthazor's failure, a failure so spectacular it would long hold a place of dishonor in demonic history. Cole laughed aloud in the dimly lit room. He had thrown away the only life he had ever known with that failure traded it all for the love of a witch and a sense of family that he had never known. It was one of the universe's great ironies to now realize that you can be naïve at any age.
He had believed that what he and Phoebe had was true love. Believed in it strongly enough to betray, to live on the run, to fight all the odds, and to change. All of this for a lovely illusion. Everything had seemed so right at the time, so wonderful. That was before Jason Dean.
Cole smiled to himself ruefully. Jason Dean, the man his wife was sleeping with. His name didn't even inspire anger any more. He'd known about the affair for months. At first he had been livid, every instinct had screamed for him to kill the bastard. But he hadn't done it, he'd done nothing, he'd said nothing and he'd stayed. It was while lying in bed reflecting on why he didn't just leave that several truths began to dawn on him.
It hadn't been real love for either of them. For Phoebe it seemed that it had been the thrill and danger of the forbidden, when that had disappeared after their marriage so had her interest in her husband. She hadn't calmed down after New York as much as everyone had believed. As for himself, Cole had been forced to acknowledge that he had suffered a severe case of puppy love at a rather advanced age. Intense, a bit obsessive, based on genuine affection, but doomed to be short lived. Yet, it was because of this he had found something that was important to him, a home and a family, peace, and a sense of belonging that he wasn't willing to give up. So he stayed. With his silence he protected Phoebe from the open disapproval of her sisters, though everyone knew what was going on and he protected the life that had become so important to him. It had seemed a harmless enough trade off.
"You would think that if I've learned anything, it would be that nothing around here is ever harmless", Cole said to his silent audience of holiday decorations. He glanced at the grandfather clock and was surprised to find that it had only been ten minutes since Piper had gone upstairs. It was amazing how quickly thoughts could race through the mind sometimes. Piper... It was different for her. Cole knew there were some similarities from stories he'd heard, but he still believed the differences outweighed them as he drifted into thought again. Piper and Leo had overcome a lot of the barriers to their being together by the time Cole had entered their lives, but the tales of the Elder's interference in their love life were legendary in the Halliwell household. When she and Leo had married Cole had been certain they were destined for great happiness together. Now here he sat reflecting on the disintegration of their relationship.
It had been so gradual, starting with little things that were so easy to miss. Piper's constant craving for at least the appearance of a normal life, Leo's belief that Piper didn't understand the importance of his work, and Prue's death, admittedly not a small thing, had all been weathered as well as any couple had a right to expect. Cole believed that discovering that they couldn't have children had been more strain than they could handle. It had seemed to drain the magic from their relationship. The arguments had become loud and bitter, usually centering on Leo never being around. And to be honest, Cole had to admit that he had long suspected that Leo stayed away at times even when it wasn't really necessary. Cole shook his head at that thought. In trying to avoid having arguments with Piper, Leo had actually fueled them. The real end though had come a few months ago, when Leo had become an Elder. Technically, Cole supposed, they were still married, but Piper had no fight left and Leo was never around. Thankfully, demon activity had been low.
So there they all were, a houseful of people trying to get what they needed from life. Leo was gone, Phoebe was always out for long stretches of time 'working', and Paige was just young and on the move looking for her direction in life. Cole realized now that that is when things started to change.
There hadn't been anything conscious about it; it was more like a natural slide toward balance. The houseful of people became him and Piper. She cooked a family meal and he made sure he was at the table to eat it. He'd be running late for work and mess up his tie, she'd laugh and help him straighten it. When she needed help to set up or decorate P3, he was there. They had decorated the house for so many holidays together that it was rapidly becoming a tradition. They laughed together, they talked, and they spent peaceful evenings doing nothing in particular when work and life allowed that luxury. They took care of one another. Piper nurtured his humanity; she took the time to introduce him to all the things in life that he had never experienced. In return, he gave her someone to depend on, he didn't treat her like her only purpose in life was to take care of the house and the club and mediate her sister's arguments. He didn't ignore her as though she were a comfortable old piece of furniture and he got damned angry that the others seemed to do just that. Somewhere in time Cole realized that he had come to appreciate the beauty that was uniquely Piper. Less blatantly physical a beauty than that of her sisters and all the more alluring because it shone from somewhere deep inside her. And tonight... Tonight a tiny sprig of mistletoe and tradition had conspired to take his body someplace his mind had already discovered. With a smile and a glance at the clock, Cole allowed his mind to replay the scene that had left him sitting there with his thoughts.
"Cole, we have to. It's mistletoe and it's tradition."
" What do you mean we have to?"
" Come on, it's only a kiss," she cajoled. " If we don't use the poor lonely thing, it probably won't get used at all. You're not afraid of one little kiss, are you?"
"Wouldn't be much of a demon if a kiss scared me." He laughed, then hesitated. " I'm just not sure this is a good idea."
Piper's face fell, her thoughts clearly visible before she tacked on her holiday smile. " I guess this is just one tradition you'll miss out on," she said with false brightness.
" Piper, it's not what you're thinking, I want to kiss you," Cole said softly.
"Then why won't you?"
The plaintive quality of her question could not be borne and Cole found himself moving toward her, even as every instinct demanded he stop. He knew they were lost the moment he touched her. The kiss began simply enough, a light brushing of lips to lips. If only it had stopped there. The seconds began to lengthen to a minute; the space between their body's evaporated as they slid completely into one another's arms. Lips were joined by heatedly exploring tongues and wandering hands. Drawing a breath became a supreme effort. As Piper's hands wandered to the buttons on his shirt, Cole summoned the shredded remains of his will and catching her hands in his, broke the kiss with a gasp.
"Piper, we have to stop. We have to stop now or I won't be stopping at all. It can't be like this, it can't just be some accident, something that just got out of control." At her soft sound of protest, he drew a shaky breath and continued. "No, let me finish, please. I've survived a lot in my life, but the one thing that I know I can't survive is you looking at me and thinking oh my God, what have I done and who have I done it with. That would kill me," he finished softly.
Piper stared at him at his final words then, drawing a deep breath, she began to speak.
"We aren't children Cole. I know all the reasons this is wrong, probably better than you do. But I can't seem to make myself care about any of that. I'm sure of what I want. If you want to think about it, that is fair. I'm going upstairs, if you aren't there in half an hour, we'll both just have to do our best to forget this ever happened."
The grandfather clock struck midnight, ushering in Christmas with its chimes and Cole rose to turn off the lights on the tree. He didn't need another five minutes of thought. People would be angry and even hurt to some degree when they found out. He had no doubt that they would find out either; this was not a one-time fling. But in this house hard times came and went and he knew they would get through this too.
Yes, Hell had found him. It didn't take the form of fire and brimstone, but rather that of a petite brunette in whose arms he had no right to be. And if this were hell, then perhaps he'd pass on heaven.