Summary: Cole Turner has survived for 4 years without Phoebe, raising their son by himself. But what happens when young Warren wants his Mommy?
Disclaimer: When I buy it, I'll let you know it's mine.
Chapter 6Orb lights flooded the room as Cole's whitelighter materialised. Piper's jaw dropped.
"You!" she yelled, and promptly blew him up.
"What was that for?" Cole asked curiously, as the angel reformed.
"Dammit, Piper, that hurt!" he yelled.
"Serves you right. You promised Paige you'd be around more often!" Piper cried, glaring at him.
"I have more than one charge! I can't be with Paige all the time!" Sam protested.
"You have more than one charge!" Piper exclaimed in disbelief. " We haven't seen you in five years, and that's the best you can come up with? I suppose you have more than one daughter, as well?" She blew him up again, and Leo grabbed her hands and forced them to her sides.
"Not the time." He told her calmly. Cole looked on amusedly as Sam appeared again, wincing.
"Ow. Cole, did you summon me here just to get blown up?"
"No." Cole said innocently. His grin widened. "Though I can't say it wasn't fun to watch!"
"Ha ha. Let's all laugh at the dead man's pain." Sam bit off sarcastically. "Piper, I'm sorry I haven't been to visit. But Paige already has a father. She doesn't need me."
"Sam, Paige's dad has been dead for over ten years."
"I know." Sam replied. "I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about your dad, Victor. He promised me he'd look after her."
"He does." Piper answered shortly. "But he's not enough. You need to be around for her too."
"Well, if Cole's going to be around – and trust me, they're not letting you run anywhere," Leo added aside to Cole. "then Sam will be here too. And maybe he can be around for Paige."
"Sounds good to me." Cole agreed. "By the way, Sam, Warren got a new power today."
"I know. Levitation. He was supposed to."
"So it's not because of Phoebe?" Cole enquired.
"No, why would you think that?" Cole looked dumbfounded for a second.
"Have you not noticed where we are?" he asked incredulously. Sam looked sheepish.
"Oh, yeah."
"And anyway, why couldn't you tell me this yesterday?" Cole demanded.
"Because I was busy yesterday! Plus, you can handle it. You handled his shimmering by yourself, didn't you?" Cole groaned.
"That was some nightmare. He kept shimmering to Europe. Italy, England, Germany, Czech Republic, you name it, we've been there." Cole explained. "Actually, we met a witch in Ireland who looked a lot like Prue." He commented
"Exactly." Sam said. "And you taught Warren about the fireballs."
"Actually, you helped me with that."
"No, I didn't get there until energy balls." Sam argued.
"You were there for both." Cole told him.
"No, I wasn't."
"Mommy?" Chris asked, pushing in the door. His eyes were wide and red, and he looked about to cry. Piper walked past the arguing men and swung her younger son into her arms.
"Hey sweetie. What's up?"
"Don't listen to a word he says, Aunty Piper! We didn't do anything!" Warren protested, as he and Wyatt burst into the kitchen.
"Oh, really?" Cole asked, as he and Leo picked up their sons.
"War, you do know Chris can't say much yet, don 't you? He's only two." Leo informed him.
"Oh." Warren said. "But we still didn't do nothing."
"Wyatt, what did you do to Chris?" Leo asked sternly.
"We just losted him, that's all." Wyatt protested their innocence. "And now you found him, so it's ok!"
"It's founded, Wy, not found." Warren corrected him knowledgably.
"Actually, he was right the first time, War." Sam replied, chuckling. Warren swung his head to face him.
"Grandpa Sam!" he cried, and struggled out of Cole's arms into Sam's outstretched ones.
"Hey there, kiddo." He laughed. Piper raised an eyebrow at Cole.
"Grandpa Sam?" she enquired.
"In a roundabout way." He grinned.
"Hey War, I heard you got a new power today!" Sam commented unthinkingly.
"Sam!" Piper berated. She quickly froze her two children.
"You do not mention magic in front of my children, understand?" Sam's brow furrowed.
"Why not? And how could you freeze them?" Piper sighed.
"Cole will explain it to you later. I don't want to go through it again. Just don't say anything, ok?" Sam nodded as Piper unfroze Chris and Wyatt.
"You know, for someone who claims to be retired, you sure do use your gifts a lot, Piper." Cole noticed. Piper sent a glare his way, and he stuck out his tongue in retaliation.
Paige was beginning to get a headache. She was supposed to be watching a kid while she waited for his social worker to get back from lunch. She had got stuck with the job as the least busy person in the office, but unfortunately, even the 'least busy' social worker had tons of paperwork to be doing, and the child had disappeared again.
'Aren't there assistants for this sort of thing?' she thought wearily, as she left her desk for the fifth time.
"Jane, have you seen the Peterson kid?" she asked a colleague. "Brown hair, this high?" she indicated vaguely. Jane shook her head.
"Sorry, Paige. I'd give you a hand looking, but the copier's jammed again. And I've got five cases to process and a meeting in five minutes."
"Six." Paige replied. "Cases, that is. No meeting, though. God, of all the days to get the Houdini wannabe. Give me a yell if you see him, would you?"
"Will do." Jane nodded, turning her attention back to the copier. Paige moved off, hoping Joel Peterson hadn't left the centre. A movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to find the fourteen year old playing with an eraser in his seat near her desk. He glanced surreptitiously around to make sure no one was watching, then tentatively let the eraser go, squinting his eyes at it. It hung in midair, and Paige gaped.
'Just my luck.' She groaned in her head. With a small wave of his hand, Joel sent the eraser zooming towards a desk near him. It hit the back of the head of the man seated there, and Joel ducked as he twisted around to see who had thrown the offending object, grinning. He sat back into his seat as Paige reached her desk. She stood over him and folded her arms.
"Nice trick." She complimented. Joel looked up and gulped.
"I didn't throw it, I swear!" he protested.
"I know. I saw you. You want to tell me why you were using magic in a busy office?" Paige asked. Joel scoffed.
"No, I wasn't. I'm a bit too old to believe in magic and Santa Claus, lady."
"Paige, actually. Paige Matthews. And who asked you to believe in Santa Claus? I'm just saying I know what I saw."
"You obviously didn't see anything, because nothing happened!" Joel denied.
"Even so, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tk my stationary into people's heads again." She reproved. Despite himself, Joel looked at her curiously.
"Tk?" he questioned.
"Telekinesis. Moving things with your mind." Paige defined.
"How do you know what it's called?" Joel asked. Paige hesitated.
"Promise you won't freak?" she implored. He crossed his fingers over his heart for reply.
"Eraser!" Paige called quietly, and the white rectangle with her initials on it disappeared from her co-worker's table and reappeared in Paige's hand in a swirl of orbs.
"Whoa. That is so cool!" the teenager breathed, eyes boggling.
"Thank you." Paige replied. "Now, can you tell me why you refuse to stay put?"
"It's boring here!" Joel complained. "And besides, I don't want to go into another foster home. Sooner or later they're gonna see what I can do, and then they'll kick me out. And I hate the children's home. All the kids pick on me for being weird."
"So running away and ending up on the streets solves that?" Paige questioned. Joel shrugged.
"It's better than being beaten up all the time." He replied angrily. "Can't you do something? You're a social worker."
"But I'm not yours." She reminded him softly. At his look of dismay she sighed.
"I'll see what I can do. I'm not promising anything, though." She added hastily. Joel grinned.
"Thanks, Ms. Matthews. You're the best. At least you're actually listening to me."
"It's Paige, I told you. Oh, look. Speaking of social workers, here comes yours." She said, glancing up. The colleague she was minding Joel for rushed up to the desk.
"Hi, Paige. Sorry I'm so late. Traffic's atrocious out there."
"I'll bet." Paige grinned. The other social worker turned to her client.
"Joel, is it? Hi, I'm Belinda di Alberto. Nice to meet you." She held out her hand, which Joel took.
"You too." He replied, smiling.
"Ok, well, are you ready? We have a meeting with a couple that want to foster you in a couple of minutes. Thanks again for watching out for him, Paige."
"Actually, um, could she come too?" Joel asked his social worker. Belinda looked surprised.
"It's against regulations, Joel." Paige said, feeling sorry for the kid. He looked so nervous, and if this foster family didn't turn out right…
"Look." She scribbled her house and cell numbers on the back of a business card and handed it to him.
"Call me if you have any trouble, especially over that thing we talked about." The young witch's wan face brightened.
"Thanks." He replied, shoving the card in a pocket. "I will." Belinda put a hand on his shoulder and led him to a closed meeting room. Paige turned to her stack of paperwork with a sigh as they walked off.
Later on in the evening, she dropped her keys wearily on the hall table and hung her jacket on the rack.
"I'm home!" she called out, wondering who else was there.
"Aunty Paige!" three voices called, and Warren, Wyatt and Chris dashed into the hall.
"Hey guys." She laughed, mood rising immediately at the sight of her nephews.
"Warren, what are you still doing here?" she asked. He shrugged, a motion which two year old Chris immediately copied.
"Aunty Piper told Daddy we had to stay for dinner and it wasn't a choice." The four year old said, waggling his finger with the other hand on his hip in a comic imitation of her sister. Paige stifled a giggle.
"I see." She told them. "So where's your daddy and Aunt Piper now?" she added.
"Aunty Piper's in the kitchen with Uncle Leo, and Daddy's in the sitting room with Grandpa Sam."
'Grandpa Sam? Who's he?' Paige wondered, as she made her way to the kitchen. She glanced into the living room as she passed, and waved to Cole and their guest. A few steps into the dining room, she froze. Backtracking, she cautiously stuck her head around the sitting room door. Her eyes widened as she saw her father.
AnimeAlexis: Two updates in two days and another chapter half written! Wow, that's unusual! Review if you like it!