Prue finished her cupcake, and ran over to the carousel. She loved being at the park with daddy. She looked over to see her daddy watching her enter the carousel area and then gave her ticket to the nice man at the entrance. She jumped onto the seated area - the horses were too high and they made her feel unsafe. This way, she would still be going in the carousel, but she would be seated in a carriage-like moving object. She smiled, wondering who was going to sit next to her this time. The carriage was for two, after all. Normally, she didn't like being in spaces with new people without her daddy, but he was watching her and she knew he would protect her.
A little blond boy entered the carriage with her. She smiled at him, "Hi, I'm Prue." He stared at her for a little while. She thought he probably was afraid of new people, too. "My name is Wyatt." Prue smiled in satisfaction. She thought the little boy wasn't going to talk to her, he seemed very shy, but he'd told her his name. They didn't talk again for the rest of the ride, but it didn't bother her all that much. Even if he was just a little boy, she still didn't like talking to new people.
As the ride ended, she saw her daddy waiting at the gate for her. She did not expect, however, to see aunt Piper there, too. She saw the boy, Wyatt, run to her. She slowly walked over to daddy, who was standing next to aunt Piper, "Hi daddy, hi aunt Piper."
Piper smiled at her niece. What were the odds? She hardly ever took Wyatt to the carousel here at Golden Gate Park, and the one day she did, he ended up sitting next to his cousin. She hadn't expected to see Cole here. She was used to seeing him at Quake, and she had been prepared that one time he came to the manor, but she hadn't expected to see him at the park. Although, it probably did make sense. He was Prue's father, after all. She didn't expect him to just sit in a room and stare at Prue all day.
"Hi, sweetie. Prue, this is my son, Wyatt. He's your cousin." Prue stared at her happily. Piper noticed her look up at Cole for confirmation. Although Paige still hoped to find something on Cole and take custody away from him, it was obvious to Piper that the little girl worshiped her father and was worshiped by him. She didn't know what would happen if they were to be separated. Cole picked Prue up and brought her to Wyatt's level. Piper smiled at her son, "Why don't you two go play on the slide? Huh, Wyatt, do you wanna do that?" He nodded happily as she set him down. Once Cole set Prue down, clad in a plain white t-shirt and denim shorts, the two toddlers ran over to the slide together.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Piper tore her eyes away from the kids and looked to Cole when she heard the sound of his voice. "I... what makes you think I want to talk about something?" "You just sent them to go play on the slide together in order to get them away."
Piper sighed, "I.. I just.. Phoebe told me to ask you to call her the next time I see you." She watched as Cole inhaled deeply and nodded, "Fine." "And-" Cole groaned, "There's more?"
Piper glared at her former brother-in-law. He was so impatient sometimes. "Yes." He looked at her expectantly. She took a deep breath, wondering if this was indeed pushing it. She told herself she wouldn't push it. She wouldn't force the whole reconnection thing on him. "I just thought that, maybe, since Prue and Wyatt have met, that they could have a play-date or something like that. Get to know each other. They're family." She watched as Cole contemplated. He finally sighed, in what she hoped was a good way, and said, "Does Wyatt use magic?"
She nodded her head. What would that have to do with anything? Was he afraid that Prue would use her powers on her cousin? "You need to make sure he knows not to use them around her. She... doesn't know about magic." "What?! Why would you do that?" "To protect her! You have no idea how many demons used to attack when she was a baby. Now, they know she doesn't have her powers, and either way, they're terrified of me. Besides, with everything she inherited, I don't want to tempt her by letting her use demonic powers this early. When she's older and understands the difference between good and evil." Piper nodded. She could understand the reasoning. In Chris' future, Wyatt had used his powers for evil. She thought it was strange that her son had never mentioned his cousin, but she hadn't exactly asked either way.
"Fine, I'll tell him not to use his powers around her. So, bring her to the manor one of these days?" She knew she said the wrong thing when she saw the expression on Cole's face, "Are you crazy? First of all, I'm not stupid, Phoebe is there, and I'm not ready to introduce them. Second of all, Prue doesn't like to be in new places with people she doesn't know very well. Third, your house is a demon trap. She'd be in constant danger there." "Okay ...then either me or Leo will bring Wyatt to you. Do you still live at the Towers?" Cole nodded, and Piper smiled triumphantly, "Great!"
Half and hour and some pointless chitchat about work later, Piper decided it was time to take Wyatt home. She watched him as he played happily on the slide with Prue, and then as the two tried to push each other on the swings. They looked like they were getting along well.
It was a week since he'd been at the park with Prue and seen Piper and her son. He'd called Phoebe, just like he said he would. Now, here he was, at P3. They decided that a public place would be better this time, to avoid the shouting match that happened last time. So, he dropped Prue off at Jake's and was now sitting at P3, waiting for Phoebe to show up. When she did though, Paige was with her. He nearly groaned in frustration. How could they talk in front of her? And, in any case, he didn't even like Paige.
After they exchanged pleasantries, an awkward silence swept over the three of them. Paige was the first to speak, "So."
It was another while before Paige's boyfriend, date, fiancee, husband, whatever he was, came and Paige left the two former lovers alone. Phoebe smiled softly, "Why do I feel like I'm on a first date?" Cole laughed lightly, hoping to make the mood lighter. All the bitterness, anger, and resentment from their last meeting needed to be worked on. "Look, Phoebe, about what I said last time, I didn't mean to make it sound like I blame you. I don't blame you. The Source thing was my fault -" "No. You were right. I gave up and pushed you away. I punished you and you didn't even do anything wrong. The only thing you were guilty of was trying to protect me. I know that now."
"Phoebe, it's not your fault. I should have tried harder to overcome it and I shouldn't have treated you like crap after Prue was born." "Cole, you couldn't have tried harder if you'd wanted to. I should have seen it, I... I should have known. Yeah, you shouldn't have treated me like that, but I can't blame you .. I wasn't, I... it's not like I was the nicest person to you."
Cole sighed, "Phoebe, please don't blame yourself. There is nothing you could have done to help me." "But, if I had noticed, if I... if I let myself notice it... the way Paige saw it..I didn't want to believe it, but it was true.. and, I - " "No, Phoebe. I refuse to allow you to blame yourself. There is nothing you could have done. The Source would've just seized an opportunity to kill you and your sisters if he thought you were on to him." Phoebe stared at him blankly. He realized that she probably hadn't thought about the very real threat to her sisters and herself during the time he was the Source. If he had been himself, it wouldn't have been a problem, but he was possessed, and that meant that he wasn't in control. Although, he controlled the Source rather well... now was not the time to get cocky.
"I'm sorry. For everything." She looked up at him as he said the words. He saw her breath hitch and he guessed she was trying to figure out what to say to him. "I'm sorry, too. For everything."
He stayed for another hour after the apologies. They avoided the topic of Prue, for the most part. They told each other about work, she told him about recent vanquishes and certain demon problems, she talked about her sisters - he was surprised to learn that Piper had two sons, and Paige was engaged -, and he told her about his new friends.
While their conversation had been pleasant, and it was a step in the right direction, it still didn't make everything okay again. The fences were not yet fully mended, so to speak. But, he would work on it. He knew that eventually, soon even, he and Phoebe would be able to get along. He was pretty sure that no matter how much he loved her, their relationship was dead now. She moved on, they were divorced, and he hurt her far too much to ever expect her to take him back again.
Yet, maybe, in the future ... Thoughts like that weren't going to get him anywhere. His mind re-focused on the most important thing in his life: Prue.
A/N: This was pretty short, but the story is moving along :) I hope you all actually read these things, because the A/N actually takes me a while to write. Anyway, next chapter will be better! New characters, interactions, and ect. in the next chapter! I'm so excited to finally be getting this story off the ground. I started it such a long time ago, and then I took that two and a half year hiatus ... point is, it feels good to be getting somewhere with this story.
Give me any suggestions! I can't promise I'll use them all in the next chapter, but I will try to use them eventually if it fits into the story well.
I have no beta, so please excuse any errors. They are all mine.
I do not in any way, shape or form own Charmed or it's characters. If there's someone you don't recognize, I probably own them.
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