a/n: I'm back! I have just read back over the past few chapters and I realise that the pace has been a little slow, please bear with it, it will quicken, there are only a few chapters left and there's quite a bit to get through!
Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.
Chapter 10 : The (e)X – Factor
"I'm sorry I think you have me confused for someone else" Caroline stated, a little too emphatically.
"I think not" Cole replied coolly
A brief silence fell over the small group, each wondering how the conversation would proceed. Piper was confused, she felt as if she had seen this woman before but couldn't quite place her.
"Honey, is something going on here?" James asked confused
"Nothing" Caroline told her husband, and she would have been convincing too had Paige noticed that her right hand was clenched in a fist, as if trying to suppress anger.
The tension was palpable, Caroline for whatever her reasons maybe, wanted to hide her former association with Cole, Cole in turn looked as if it was taking all his self-control not to rush forward and start shouting at her, and Phoebe was desperately trying and failing to get a read from the woman. Piper, suddenly realised where she knew this woman from, she was the lady who had shown up at the manor the day Leona had arrived.
"Daz!" Kyle cried, breaking the bizarre Mexican stand off, for once in his life pleased at the arrival of the idiot of his eldest daughters' boyfriend. "Good to see you!" He continued as Daz made his way toward the group.
"Geez Kyle, never mind about me, have you been smoking something illegal?" Poppy drawled at the fake enthusiasm her father was showing toward Daz.
Daz, whose indeterminable facial expression remained the same merely grunted a hello at Kyle and Paige before turning to Poppy "You wanted to talk?"
"Yeah" Poppy replied, as the pair ambled off to the garden.
In the meanwhile, Leo had used the distraction to talk to Lily "Look" he told her "could you get James to leave Cole and Caroline alone to talk ?"
"But I thought they didn't know each other?" the old lady puzzled
"trust me, they do, I'm not sure what's happening, but it needs to be sorted"
"um, James" Lily raised her voice "could you go down to the cellar and bring up another crate of wine I think we're running out"
"But.." he protested, unsure of the silent communication that seemed to be occurring between his wife and one of the new neighbours.
"Please" Lilian insisted.
"Okay.." he allowed himself to be lead away reluctantly by his grandmother, while Cole and Caroline continued to stare each other down.
"So now he's gone, would you like to tell me what the hell you are playing at?" Cole asked, a steely note to his voice, something which Phoebe hadn't heard since his demon days.
"Actually no" Caroline made to move past, Cole grabbed her arm "I would rethink that decision if I were you"
"Let go of my arm or I will scream this house down, don't think that I won't"
Cole dropped her arm, "Thank you" She stalked off
"Caroline" Cole ran after her, Phoebe close on his heals.
"What is all that about?" Paige asked
Kyle shrugged "Hey what's that about?" He gestured toward the patio doors, where on the otherside stood Poppy and Daz, clearly in the throes of an argument, arms waving and gestures being made.
"I don't know, I can't hear from this far away" Paige strained to listen.
"I wish I knew who started it, I need to know whether to rush over and defend my little girl's honour, or go and congratulate her for standing up for herself."
"Um, Kyle honey, your 'little girl' will be 15 next birthday, and trust me would not appreciate you going over there to 'defend her honour'. If you want to defend your daughters' honour , I'm sure Rosie will let you"
"Do you think they will split up?" Kyle pondered
"no" Paige replied " we aren't that lucky.
---
"Good job we got Lily to take James away, I thought Cole was going to explode back there" Leo whispered to Piper
"Yeah Good old lily" Piper drawled
"um, I'm going to check on the kids" Chris fled toward the sand pit , sensing that a confrontation was brewing between his parents.
"Piper seriously, get over it! This isn't grab a granny night, do you honestly think that I am about to start an affair?"
"no" said Piper in a small voice, the flush on her face indicating otherwise
"I love you! And as attractive as the flush of all this jealousy makes you, it has got to stop!"
"well stop mentioning her then, it's Lily this, and Lily that and I know its stupid because she is older than Grams, but I just can't help it, and.."
Piper was silenced by Leo grabbing her and pulling her into a passionate embrace
"Convinced?" Leo asked when they finally separated
"…maybe.." Piper raised a coy eyebrow. "perhaps you ought to try again"
Cole followed Caroline through the ground floor and up the stairs towards the first floor landing. She darted left into an empty bedroom, Cole in hot pursiut . Phoebe rounded the corner just in time to see him cross the thresh hold, pushing the door shut behind him. The middle charmed one crept up to the doorway, and peeked through the 2 inch gap that had been left.
"What on earth is went on downstairs?" Cole demanded of Caroline who was staring serenely out of the window.
"Calm down Cole, its not good for your blood pressure – are you still on those tablets?"
"My blood pressure!" Cole screeched "You stood there and denied even knowing me, making it out to hubby dearest as if I was on day release from the loony bin, and now you're enquiring after my health! Though speaking of your new husband, how did you manage that exactly? Given that you are in fact still married to me, as you have spent months refusing to sign divorce papers."
Caroline merely gave him an enigmatic grin. "oh Cole, always with your head so full of legal matters"
"You're married to two different people Caroline!"
"Not really, not on paper anyway, you married Caroline Parry, James married Caroline Windsor"
"wow you are so clever, inventing a new surname, because its not as if you would ever get found out" Cole drawled sarcastically
"How is Ben?" she asked, abruptly turning the conversation
Cole fumed "None of your business"
"Cole, I did help raise him for 18 months!"
"He is fine" Cole grudgingly admitted
"good" Her tone was neutral
"Why won't you sign my divorce papers?" Cole was fed up with avoiding the issue.
"She doesn't mind looking after him then?" Caroline it appeared was happy to keep evading the matter.
"Who?"
"This woman you seem to be in a desperate hurry to marry"
"She's his mother, so no she doesn't mind"
"I thought you said she was dead?"
Phoebe, very nearly gave herself away by cursing loudly, but fortunately she thought the better of it. Instead she resolved to have a little word with Cole when all this was over.
" I lied, but you're not above doing that yourself, now the papers"
"No"
"Caroline, I don't know what you hope to achieve by this or quite frankly nor do I care , just sign the damn things"
"I said no"
"what do you want huh?" Cole began to loose his cool, he took a step toward her, closing he gap between them "do you want me to go downstairs and tell your husband that his pretty little wifey is a bigamist?"
It was then that Phoebe saw it. Caroline was standing stock still, her arms folded behind her back, and there in the palm of her left hand appeared what looked to be a fireball, it was small, no bigger than an orange, and the flames had a purplish shade to them. She began bouncing the ball, gently up and down, the movement was discreet , as not for Cole to notice what she was doing.
"You wouldn't dare" She challenged him, leaning closer to look him in the eyes
"I would" Cole told her
The fireball bounced a little higher.
"Cole" Phoebe knocked loudly on the door , "Cole could I have a word" She barged into the room,
"Are you okay?" Cole asked, snapping apart from Caroline, concerned at the look on his Phoebe's face.
"Fine" Phoebe replied her voice still several octaves higher than normal, sneaking a look at Caroline who seemed to have extinguished the fireball, "But, Ben needs you"
"Alright" Cole gave her a puzzled look "This isn't over" he told Caroline
"Oh you can be sure of it" She smirked
"What's wrong with Ben?" He asked as Phoebe rushed him across the landing and down the stairs. "tell you in a second" Phoebe continued, as they made their way back to the living room.
"okay" she said, as soon as the adults of the Halliwell clan were all assembled together "Caroline is a demon.." she announced in hushed tones.
"now sweetie I know you don't like her.." Paige began
"No, she seriously is a demon, trust me, an oddly coloured fireball conjuring demon"
"ah crap" Piper moaned
"Phoebe" Cole interrupted, "I think I would have noticed if my former wife was a demon!"
"Really Cole?" she questioned him " I dated you for 6 months and had no idea that you were a demon, Chris hid the fact that he was half-witch for nearly a year, I hid my powers from Jason for nearly 2 years, I think we have all established that magical and demonic tendencies can be hidden should a person wish to do so."
"right, Chris!" Piper called, gesturing for her son to come join them "You orb me and Phoebe back home please we need to check the B.O.S, Cole, you keep an eye on Caroline, make sure that she doesn't suspect that we know anything about her demonic connections, Leo, go stock up on the memory dust, we may need it on the rest of the guests, Paige, Kyle, stay with the kids, and mingle, don't make it look obvious that we have all left en masse"
"I mean honestly" Phoebe exclaimed as she thumbed throw the BOS, while Chris and Piper set to work on an all purpose vanquishing potion. "It's bad enough that he was married, to a demon no less, but a blond, a tall blond, with blue eyes, he couldn't have picked someone who was less like me"
"I think Aunty Phoebe, that was the point" Chris sighed as he stirred the mixture
"what d'you mean?" she puzzled.
"That, he was obviously still hung up on you, therefore he deliberately went out and chose someone who was your complete physical opposite, so that he wouldn't have to be reminded of you all day. For someone who has a psychology degree you aren't always on the ball sometimes"
"Cut me a little slack here Chris, I'm still getting over the issue that he was married"
"have you found that demon yet?" Piper cut in
"I think so" Phoebe turned the book towards them "Black Widow Demons" she read aloud "Groups of highly trained seductress demoness' who target powerful demons in the aim to amass their powers which they then pass to the source in exchange for money. Basically it's the same as Gold Digging wife, though instead of divorcing/killing their husband for money they do it for powers. Typical"
"What's the vanquishing potion?" Piper asked
" Add some Silver Wreed to the stuff your brewing and it should be fine"
Chris sprinkled in a handful, there was a small explosion and when the smoke cleared it revealed a thick blood like potion " Looks like we're ready to rumble"
"Great, let's get back and annihilate the blond bimbo" Phoebe stalked out of the room
Piper turned to Chris " I guess now wouldn't be the time to remind her that she herself went blond a couple of years ago?"
Chris grinned "Nah, do it later"
Back at the house warming Paige had nipped out to the back garden to check on the kids.
"Are you having a good time?" Paige asked Leona, Wyatt, Victor and Rosie who were all playing in the sand pit.
"Yes" they chorused
"Good" she replied, she made her way back toward the house, where she spotted Kyle pointing and waving.
"What?" she asked as she came to join him. He pointed to the corner of the living room where Poppy sat, head in her hands.
"Do you think we should go over?" Kyle asked, unsure
"Come on then" Paige sighed "though I am getting a little tired of offering tea and sympathy and having it thrown back in my face"
Poppy could hear two people approaching her side of the room, and looked up to find her parents standing over her, looks of concern on their faces.
"Are you okay?" Kyle sat down next to her
"Fine" she sniffed
"You don't look too fine" he continued gently
"well I am fine" she snapped
"so where is Daz?" Paige enquired
"went home"
"Why?"
"Because he did. Why do you care? You don't even like him"
"Because I care about you , and I care that you are upset"
"I'm NOT upset"
"Really? Or is the puffy eyed look in this season?"
"We spilt up okay? Happy now?" Poppy jumped up and bolted toward the hallway, pushing past Phoebe, Piper and Chris who had just orbed back into the downstairs toilet and were making their way back to the living room.
"Poppy!" Paige and Kyle went after her.
"Not you missey" Phoebe grabbed Paige's arm, "Vanquish demon first, kick daughters' ass later"
"Fine" Paige accepted a potion vial.
"Cole" Piper beckoned him over "Where is she?"
"In the garden" He pointed to Caroline who was serving nibbles to a group of guests "As far as I can tell she hasn't done anything untoward, she's been the perfect hostess, passing drinks round, mingling – it makes me want punch her overly styled perfect head"
"Right , you need to get her alone again, preferably upstairs or somewhere" Phoebe told him "that way we can enter, whack her with the vanquishing potion and hey presto"
"How do I get her away? It was hard enough last time?"
"Well, I was thinking…"
Out in the garden Caroline, turned away from the group of guests who were now laughing at one of her husbands jokes, and still clutching the tray she walked over to where the children were playing. Outwardly she may have appeared to be cool calm and collected, but inwardly she was shaking. The moment she had been introduced to the Halliwells, she had realised that Cole was now engaged to a Charmed One. This made things very awkward, especially as she knew it wouldn't be long before they figured out who she really was. Waving her hand quickly over the silver dish, the few remaining hors d'oeuvres disappeared and were replaced by 5 cookies.
Approaching the children she plastered on a fake smile "Hey" she said, causing them to look up "Ben, I don't suppose you remember me do you?"
Ben shook his head
"I knew you and your daddy a long time ago, when you were really little"
"Really?"
"Yes. I'm Caroline. Who are all your little friends here?"
"These are my cousins, Wyatt and Victor and Rosie and Leona" Ben pointed to each of the children.
"Nice to meet you" Caroline continued in her syrupy voice "Would you all like a cookie?" She held the tray out.
"Yes please" Ben replied, as the cousins innocently gathered round her in a circle, to collect their sweat treat.
Aw Caroline thought, it really is like taking candy from a baby…
"..so then she follows you upstairs..got it?" Phoebe finished
"Yes" Cole replied
"Got the memory dust" Leo ran up, "The Elders were taking forever to hand it over, it's being rationed now due to misuse by some whitelighters"
"okay, so is she still in the .." Piper's words were drowned out by screams coming from the garden.
They rushed outside vials at the ready, only to find that Caroline was no where to be seen. "She's gone" Cole shouted scanning area
A sob rose up from Piper "NO" she cried, pointing to the corner, all eyes followed the end of her finger towards the sand pit where the children had been playing. "She's taken them"
Chris and Leo raced over to the deserted play area, there was nothing, apart from a silver tray with 5 cookies on it. Caroline had abducted the children………….
TBC