Disclaimer: This is just a made-up story; I don't own the show or any of the characters!

Chapter 9

Phoebe: okay so we need to somehow kill Balthazar without stripping Cole of his powers? How on earth are we supposed to do that, Balthazar is literally in his DNA. We can't vanquish Balthazar without –

Prue: Don't say it phoebe.

Piper: Killing Cole. Piper trailed off

Prue: Piper! Prue glared at piper

Piper: Look Prue, denying it isn't going to help.

Prue: There has to be another way, we've dealt with a lot worse than this before.

Phoebe: I mean, we can try a few things, but it's going to be physically painful for Cole if we keep experimenting on him. I see two options: 1, we don't vanquish Balthazar and you run the risk of being in danger every time Cole gets angry or 2, we kill Balthazar losing Cole as well. And I'm assuming you're completely against option 2.

Piper: What do you wanna do Prue?

Prue: It's too soon to decide, we haven't even had a look yet, we should ask Leo if he knows anything and we might wanna talk to Cole about this.

Piper: good idea, you go talk to Cole and me and phoebe will look in the book of shadows and talk to Leo.

Cole was in sat on the side of the bed in Prue's room working through case files for some court appearances he had next week. Prue walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She was anxious to have this conversation with Cole because neither of phoebe's two options benefitted Cole at all. They were at a crossroads with nowhere to go.

Prue: hey said Prue quietly I hope I'm not disturbing you.

Cole: Hey! No no, it's fine what's up? Have you decided what to do with me?

Prue went to over to the side of the bed and sat on Cole's lap. Cole welcomed her with open arms. She looked into his eyes and traced his lips with her thumb.

Prue: Cole, Prue took a deep breath, I don't know what to tell you. I don't think there's a way out of this.

Cole: what do you mean?

Prue: we figured out that there isn't actually a way to kill Balthazar without… killing you in the process.

Cole was silent for a moment.

Cole: Maybe it's for the best. If it means I won't hurt, you anymore.

Prue: No Cole, you dying isn't for the best. We need you; I need you. I will figure something out. Whatever we do, it will probably hurt because we will be stripping you biologically from Balthazar. Do you trust me?

Cole: Of course, I do. But what if nothing works and I'm stuck like this forever.

Prue: Then we'll deal with it. I not gonna leave you to deal with this alone. Now give me some time to figure out what to do. I think it's best that we maybe have some time apart. What do you think?

Cole: I agree. I have some work to do if I wanna continue being a lawyer once all this is over.

Prue: okay great, I'll let you know when we have something.

Prue got up and started walking towards the door. Cole quickly grabbed Prue's wrist and pulled her back into his lap. Prue shrieked childishly.

Cole: do I not even get a goodbye kiss? Cole asked cheekily

Prue leaned in close to Cole's face, their lips almost touching, their breathing getting heavier.

Prue said almost whispering I can give you a lot more than that…

Chapter 10 will be up soon!