Disclaimers: I don't own Charmed or any of the characters that already appeared on the show…bla bla… but I wish I own Cole!

A/N: 25th chapter already! I can't believe I wrote that much… especially in English! And sorry for all the mistakes in this chapter, I haven't had time to have them checked out, sorry and besides, I wrote more with my heart than my head sometime! I know it's long so I'll try to speed things up a little. Hope you're not getting bored…

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This story takes place after Daddy Dearest (Sam I Am)

Summary: As Cole is now invincible the Elders decide to send him a Whitelighter, Emily (much to Elder Aaron's displease) With her help, Cole recovers slowly his sanity. Piper is pregnant and her baby is a healthy little girl, Melinda. Paige met Prue's ghost and dates Steve. When, Lauren, Cole's secretary, who is also an empath, is attacked, the sisters accuse Cole and try to vanquish him only to find at the last minute that he is innocent of this crime. Emily nearly die in the process. This event leads the girls to converse about last year and they realise they were mistaken about Cole. When Piper is kidnapped by the Avatars, the remaining Halliwell family turn to the half demon who finally brings her back only to lose himself in the clutches of the Avatars.

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Another Chance

Chapter 25: And life goes on …

(A week later)

An usual Friday morning at the manor…

Piper cooking, Leo eating, Paige sleeping and Phoebe ... well…

"Any news Leo?" asked Phoebe, out of the blue, stirring her coffee absentmindedly.

As Leo was busy chewing the freshly made croissant, Piper answered instead, turning her gaze away from the bacon she was cooking, to shoot a wondering glance at her sister:

"You've been asking this every day since… well since I came back home." It was still difficult for her to speak about the Avatars so she quickly continued "Why don't you really ask what's on your mind?"

Phoebe dived her gaze in her coffee, Piper had a point but she refused to recognise it. She was worried… about Cole. Even if  she knew that it wasn't healthy to mull over her pain and her blame like that, she couldn't help it. Since last weeks' events, every time she had closed her eyes, she had seen again the look on his face when he wanted to commit suicide, the pain in his voice when  he whispered her name… she feared it would keep fretting her till the end… Why didn't she answered his pleas? Why did she ignore his pain like that?

Why? She knew why… she had lost her trust in him a long time ago whereas he never stopped trusting her. And his trust was his loss… would always be.

She felt her eyes well up every time she remembered Cole's death grip over Emily. She could have killed his last chance at redemption, the redemption she never once granted him…

However she refused to let those emotions engulf her. She nearly had let them resurfaced back in the attic when HE brings Piper back but his secretive attitude and the tension that filled the room whenever he was around them was unmistakable. Things couldn't go back to where Cole and her had left them.

She had had time to think about it over and over again during the week. Knowing the truth didn't make things easier, far from. Now, not only was she convinced that it wasn't meant to be between Cole and her, but she was also blaming herself for it.

Her decision to move on and let that part of her life behind was irrevocable. She might know Cole wasn't completely responsible of his acts last year, but it didn't change what happened and how she succumbed to evil, endangering her sister's lives in the process, for what? For love, for a overwhelming love, for a dangerously overwhelming love. She couldn't allow herself to play with fire ever again, for everyone's sake.

Leo swallowed his croissant and answered Phoebe's question, unknowingly of her inner tumult:

"I'm sorry Phoebe. You know the Elders, they won't let us know about the Avatars and as I told you before I think they are up to something and… I don't like it when they hide things to me."

Phoebe nodded it was the same answer she had been hearing everyday for a week.

"That's really strange indeed, honey" replied Piper sitting next to Leo "But I'm sure that whatever reason it is they are hiding things to us, it's for our best. I mean I saw what they are capable of. They are really powerful. Did you see what they did to our living-room?"

Leo chuckled at Piper's priority. He put his hand on hers affectionately:

"Above all, I saw what they did to you. I don't know what I would have done without you!"

Piper smiled tenderly. She moved near her husband and nuzzled with him:

"All I could think about back there was you and Melinda."

"I'm sorry Piper we couldn't save you before."

Leo kissed Piper lightly on the lips.

Phoebe rolled her eyes and sighed.

*So sweet…* she thought ironically. She had to witness this display of tenderness and it reminded her of her sacrifices, only confirmed by Leo's next comment.

"Thank God Cole helped us… especially after we tried to kill him." Replied the Whitelighter with a weak smile.

"Yeah thank God…she shook her head slightly, she had had remorse about their behaviours since they found out the truth about his possession.

Indeed, he had saved her whereas only hours ago she would have killed him remorselessly. Indeed, he wasn't as evil as they all thought he was… but she hadn't changed her mind about him being part of her family. To dangerous. Even if he didn't intent to hurt them, his predisposition to evil was undeniable. It was in his blood. He was a magnet to evil. She knew Cole was fighting hard against his own nature, but that fight still had uncertain issue. He would never be entirely good and even as a human, there is still a part of himself that sought for evil against his will. He proved it last year with the Hollow. She doubted there was anything he could have done against it and it pained her to reject him like that but, even if it was hard considering everything he did for them, she had the conviction she had taken the best solution, the safest solution.

And if it was as hard for her, she could only imagine how it might be for Phoebe. She glanced discreetly at her sister from the corner of an eye. She was very pale and looked tired. She didn't even make up today. She had been working hard all week, shielding her true feelings behind 'Dear Phoebe'. It was so much easier to take care of other people's problems than of her owns. Piper sighed. Her sister's sacrifice was even greater now than before and she somehow felt guilty to be as happy as she was with Leo.

As Phoebe didn't dare voicing her true interest, she decided to make things easier, at least for her:

"Did you see Emily since last week Leo?"

Phoebe suddenly looked up from her coffee cup and stared at her brother-in-law. Any news about Cole was good to take, even if it was through Emily…

Leo raised an eyebrow at her sudden concern about the Whitelighter but answered nonetheless:

"Well yeah… You know… at mandatory meetings…" he replied a little too quickly, raising his hands defensively before him from fear she was being suspicious again about him meeting other feminine Whitelighters.

Piper rolled her eyes and smiled amusingly at his attitude. She could read him like a book and she found it cute that he wanted to reassure her on that point. But… wait! Was she really THAT scary? Her hormonal rollercoaster was over, no more mood swings now! She hadn't been feeling that well for a long time in fact!

She put her hands on his shoulder reassuringly, and added:

"Didn't you talk to her?"

Leo relaxed at her touch, no crisis of jealousy in sight:

"Well, I thank her for saving you and she said I shouldn't thank her but rather Cole because he didn't follow her advise…"

Piper was stunned at his answer. She had expected the contrary, that she was the one to convince Cole to go save her! Leo had told her that they looked reluctant when they came to the penthouse to ask for Cole's help. She could understand it, after all they almost killed his human half. She still shivered at the thought of their mistake but set it aside.

"Well, I'm glad he didn't! How could she ask him such a thing?"

"Well, Cole is her charge and she had to think of her charge's well being before the other's" he shrugged as if it was the most natural things in the world.

Piper opened wide eyes at this. The Charmed ones always were the priority for the Elders but, yet again, Emily's temper might have interfered.

"Do you think he is in trouble now? Because of the Avatars I mean?" asked Phoebe worriedly. She perfectly remembered the bad feeling that she had about him that night because, in fact, it didn't left her until now. Was it some premonition that, for a reason or another, couldn't go out?

In five years of Witchcraft, she had learned not to ignore her impressions, especially the bad ones. Her instincts had become more and more accurate. For generations, the Halliwells had fought evil, they might have developed some kind of sixth sense for that sort of things, a new gene in their witchy DNA.

"Well, I don't know. Emily wasn't really on a talkative mood when I saw her. I think she is still pissed off with the fact that we tried to vanquish Cole." He added sadly. "Maybe you should try to talk to her?"

Both of the Halliwell sisters shot him a 'Now Way!' glance that made him regret to even have risen the hypothesis. So he turned back his attention to his breakfast.

"Sorry guys but I have to go." Said Phoebe, standing up and taking her laptop.

"Wait Phoebe!" called out Piper before she reached the kitchen's door "Try to be back for dinner tonight, you have been working so hard this week we don't even have time to talk anymore."

Phoebe nodded then wrinkled her nose as a strange smell came to her nostrils.

"Something is burning up Piper!"

Piper abruptly stood up, startling Leo:

"MY BACON!"

She went to the burner and grimaced at the dark remains of her once so appetising bacon.

Phoebe smiled, clearly amused, an headed out.

***

Cole was busy in his office, trying to concentrate on the numerous legal papers on his desk. Mainly, the last cases the firm gave him where the divorces and breach of contracts of the most important clients. To put it in a nutshell, it was lucrative but rather boring…

Although, even if his job was kinda soporific sometimes, he still felt the adrenaline that coursed through his veins every times he stood up before the court. And he liked it. He liked being recognised for something else than his evil powers. He sighed contentedly…

This week had been rather calm for him considering the past months. He was trying to adjust to this new life alone. He hadn't seen the Avatars but he was certain that it was some kind of a trial period. He feared that they were testing him and his involvement with either side, Good or Evil. Their lack of trust wasn't good sign for the continuation of the Elders' plan.

*Yuck…* he thought to himself cynically, *the Elders plan…*

Like he needed their approval to do what needed to be done!

They didn't lift a finger to help him before and now they counted on him to resolve their own problems…

Cole chuckled at the sudden reverse of situation. The more he thought about it and the more suspicious he grew about their true intentions. What if they planned to double-cross him?  After all, the Avatars might be the only one able to kill him… it would be so easy to get the job done and keep hands clean…

He shook off this distrustful attitude as he thought of Emily again.

What was she doing now?

He hadn't had news of her since last week and he understood that it was for the best but… So much for team work… He couldn't receive or give her any information until it was safe… and it mightn't be before a long time if it went on like that with the Avatars… What were they waiting for! Not that he was eager to enter the lion's den but the wait was killing him… he never counted patience as one of his qualities.

Besides, he was uninformed and unprepared…

*What a good job! Bravo the Elders!* he ironically thought to himself.

That plan of theirs was really messy… if it wasn't for Emily…

*Emily* Whenever he thought about her now, he realised that she had become a real part of his life, and beside Phoebe and her family, he never had connections like that with anyone. Especially a Whitelighter! Sshe wasn't as self righteous as the others. She knew about his past but didn't look at him as a monster, and for that he was grateful. She showed him he path when he was lost and he was doing his best now to cling to it.

As he remembered the look in her eyes the last time he had seen her, he was afraid to hurt another person he loved. *It's far too dangerous Emily… Don't go there…*

A light knock was heard on the door, distracting Cole. He looked up and said absent-mindedly:

"Come in!"

Lauren entered his office carrying a pile of legal documents so high that she had a hard time to see where she was going. Cole quickly stood up and helped her out. He took the documents from her and put it on his already encumbered desk.

Lauren sighed and smiled:

"Thank you!"

"You know I feel guilty, you are out of the hospital for only a week and I've kept you busy since then. You should go easy! I don't want you to be sick because of me!" he said worriedly.

"Oh don't worry about me! I'm glad to help you! I can't believe you convince the associates to do pro-bono work! It's so unlike them! Always profit, they never cared about the others before! There is so many people out there who don't have the money to earn them juridical help! I'm glad a good lawyer like you even bother about them! Besides you take it on your free time! I don't know how you are doing to catch up with all this additional work!" she added eyeing the pile of paper on his desk "It's not human to deal with this charge of work! Are you some kind of super-insomniac from Crypton or what? Do you ever sleep at night?" She joked.

"You don't know how close you are to reality!" he joked in turn. Indeed, he spent most of his free time on those cases. Some lawyers and business men really did abuse of other people's trust! He was paying the price of his mind tricks on the associates but his efforts were worth it. He liked being of use to them. Besides, their thankful smiles every time he announced them they wouldn't be sued anymore were the best rewards he was ever given.

Lauren smiled anew. She was glad to see Cole like this. Smiling and joking, True to himself. He had changed so much since she had been hired here. He was cold and distant only a month before, she knew he was going through his own problems but still, she had sometimes the impression that she didn't exist for him!

However it had all changed… for the best!

Cole and her had been rather close this past week. They have talked a lot together. Well, *she* had talked a lot. She confided in him. She told him of the Hell she had been living everyday with her ex-husband, of the loss of her mother, a year ago, and of all the things she had kept bottled up inside of her. She was glad to have someone who listened. Being an empath you usually preoccupied yourself of other people's pains before yours, and it was hard on her. Deep inside, she feared she wasn't up to her mother's level, that she wasn't as good as an empath as she had been…

Anyway, as she thought about her gift again, she realised Phoebe Halliwell really seemed to know a lot about empathy. Maybe she should call her one day to know more about that strange power. Where does it come from? Why was it in her family? All the questions about herself she hadn't been able to answer yet… Being a journalist, she might get information more easily. Moreover, she guessed all by herself that she had the power of empathy, back there, in that hospital's room, which made things even easier. It might be risky to ask such questions to a journalist but she didn't seem too surprised… Strange.

Cole snapped with his fingers in front of her face to awake her from her daydream.

When Lauren realised she had been lost in thoughts for a while, she apologised.

"What were you thinking about?" He asked curiously, smiling at her. Actually, he needed some diversion from work. And he liked to discuss things with Lauren. She always have an interesting point of view on things and always knew how to cheer him up when those waves of sadness sometimes took him unexpectedly.

Not that he was depressing, but it was sometime hard for him to turn back and realised that, for more than a century, he had only caused pain and disaster. What could be written on his grave? Cole Turner Rest in Peace, you killed so many people that it's a relief you are dead in turn…?

Really there was few things he could be proud of in his life.

He pushed that thought aside and turned his attention back to the woman in front of him. She was funny but he couldn't confide her his true fears, his blame, his feelings… not like he could with Emily. He hadn't seen his Whitelighter in a week from fear of the Avatars' spies, and he really missed her.

 "I was thinking about how much you've changed!" she replied.

Cole tilted his head and laughed slightly at her frankness.

She hoped she hadn't offended her boss and added:

"I mean… You were all depressive, always sad and all… but look at you now! You're like the good Samaritan of deprived people ! You help people and don't make profit of their problems like some lawyers do… You impress me…" She locked eyes with him to signify she meant it "…Really!"

Cole chuckled. If she knew how much of an heavy conscience he had, like Phoebe rightly said, no amount of good deeds could change his evil past.

"Well, thank you." He added with a modest smile. Then he turned the subject to another matter:

"So what's up with your ex-husband? Still in jail isn't he? You called the police station?"

Lauren's smile faded as he mentioned her ex-husband:

"Yeah, he is still in jail. And he will stay for long with your testimony. Thank god! I feared him far too long and it's finally over … thanks to you!"

Cole smiled but averted his eyes. He didn't deserve to be thanked, if it wasn't for Emily he might have killed the guy. Adding at the same time another victim to his already long list of murders.

"Now you're the one lost in daydream land!" remarked Lauren with a smirk. She narrowed her eyes, concentrating on her empathic abilities: "You can be so secretive at times… I wonder if anyone knows who the true Cole Turner is."

Cole chuckled again and looked in her eyes with an amused smile on his handsome face:

"The true Cole Turner?"

"Yeah, Your mind is kinda unfathomable, you know? I pride myself on guessing people's feelings but you are setting me a real poser. Many times I wished I knew what was on your mind…" she added seriously.

Cole wasn't comfortable at the idea of being under Lauren's empathic stare but it intrigued him nonetheless. He had been trying for a while now to find who he truly was, except from the ex-demon, ex-source, ex-husband from hell, who was he NOW? What was his humanity's aim? He believed for a long time that those answers lied in his relationship with Phoebe, that she had all the cards of his destiny in hands. However after she threw it back in his face, he had a hard time to put them in an understandable order again. He was almost a stranger to himself. Not even sure of anything anymore… and it was scary.

He couldn't miss that occasion and asked her:

"You told me once you could feel people's pains in your heart. What do you feel about me now?"

"I told you, you're not easily readable… There are so many things you seem to hide, so many different aspects in your personality." She wrinkled her eyes in concentration and tucked a strand of her curly blond hair behind her ear pensively "You try to bury your fears and your feelings deep down, afraid of the consequences of letting them appear on the surface. You may be afraid of some repercussions or maybe… you are afraid that if you open yourself, it will backfire AGAIN."

Cole was kinda surprised at the 'again' at the end of her sentence but didn't comment. Indeed, the one person he had opened to, the only one who saw his weaknesses and his fears, had also be the one who hated him to the point she wished his death.

*Am I such a hateful person?* he thought sadly.

"How can you believe that?" came Lauren's upset reply, startling him out of his bitter reflection.

"Uh… Wh- … what?"

"How can you believe you are a hateful person?!" said Lauren echoing his previous thought.

Cole staid agape for a moment and he finally regained his composure. She really was a good empath! Damn it! She just read his mind!

Lauren took a step in his direction. She put her hand on his forearm as she looked straight in his eyes:

"If you always doubt yourself, how will you be able to ever trust someone else?"

This psychoanalyse had gone further than he had expected as it touched the very foundations of his permanent doubt. Beside, it reminded him of his own advice to Phoebe, back then when he still had hoped that Cinderella would come back to her Prince Charming. But the clock had chimed its twelve strikes already, and the sumptuous coach leading the two of them to a radiant future was reduced to nothing more than a half-buried pumpkin, abandoned on the side of a muddy road.

"Lauren…" he sighed but his secretary cut him short.

"I do believe in you, Cole. You're a good person. You don't have to care about other people's beliefs. The important thing is to always match up to your own opinions."

Cole nodded slightly, acknowledging her advice, even if he didn't quite understand what it meant yet.

Lauren smiled brightly at his uneasiness and wonderment.

Cole wrinkled his nose at this, trying to suppress the smile that threatened to come, but gave in and offered her a big grin. Easing the atmosphere. When he threw back a look at the amount of papers on his desk, he realised all of this didn't help him concentrate. He didn't want to go back to work yet so he looked back at Lauren and said with a smile that melted her heart:

"I'm hungry! What do you say: Italian or chinese?"

"Hmmm… italian!" she responded cheerfully, smiling from ear to ear at his offer.

After they both had taken their coats, they headed out of Cole's office, discussing the open cases they still had on hands.

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Please REVIEW! Tell me what you think, your ideas, your flames, your comments and help this story going on!

Thanks for all the reviews!

To Charmed Writer, I'm glad I redeemed Cole a little to your eyes! *wink*

To lk8cp8lk, bubbly*pop and Barb: Phoebe nicer, kinda antithetical isn't it? lol

Again feel free to flame, I know I deserve it for letting you wait like that!