Phoebe stopped wiping the counter and frowned. There was just something at the edge of her consciousness she couldn't shake. A whiff of a familiar scent, mixed with a tinge of... Smoke?

Chuckling to herself, she switched off the light in the kitchen, heading upstairs, but sudden insistent knocking made her change directions.

Who would come here after half past 11? Cautiously moving to the front door, she called out, "Yeah, who's there?"

There was a thud against the door, a dull clunk followed by another loud crash as something hit the ground. That didn't sound good, not at all.

"Phoebe, it's me!" someone cried out almost in pain. Her heart stopped for a moment as she recognized the voice. Forgetting caution, she threw the door open hurriedly.

"Cole? Oh my God! What happened?"

He was there, kneeling with his hands braced against the ground, peering at her with reddened eyes. What was most shocking, though, were his clothes and appearance. She had never seen him looking so scruffy.

"Phoebe!" Cole gulped and gingerly stood up, giving her an awkward smile. "Uh... sorry to... heh... you look beautiful."

That was a familiar tactic – change the topic any time something he didn't want to deal with came up – but there was something else. Cole looked awestruck. Apart from looking horrible.

"Thank you? I suppose. What are you doing here? What happened to you?" Without thinking too much about it, she stepped closer to him and touched his face. There was several days' worth of stubble on his cheeks and his breath smelled faintly of whiskey, but he was sober. She couldn't tear her gaze away from the expression in his eyes.

Phoebe could hardly find words to describe the myriads of emotions in them ranging from longing, hope, and wonder to despair, pain, heartbreak. It made him look older, changed. As if in the week she hadn't seen him he had aged several years.

"Are you alright?" she whispered, her hands gently sliding down from his face to skim over his shoulders and arms to finally rest on his chest. Cole appeared unharmed. His heart was beating quickly, though, a wild staccato against her palm.

"Never been better," he replied and heaved a shuddering sigh, slumping slightly as he lowered his forehead against hers. "I'm going to put my arms around you, now. Is that ok?"

"Why do you ask that? Of course, silly!" To demonstrate her point, she hugged him around the waist, closing her eyes. The last few days of no contact were quickly forgotten. She believed that there were a great number of things she would gladly forget if she could find herself in his arms at the end of the day. It was surprising to realize that she was unable to stay annoyed.

"Well," he huffed and squeezed her tightly. To her utter bewilderment, he forced out the next words in a choked whisper, as if he was on the verge of tears. "I smell."

"A bit. Will you tell me what has happened?" The realization wasn't like a lightning, or a clap of thunder, or anything spectacularly shocking. It was a quiet acceptance of something her heart had already known.

"Heh, that's a long story..."

Phoebe didn't like the way his arms tightened, and how rough his voice sounded. The chuckle he forced out sent shivers down her spine – there was no humor in it, only wry bitterness. 'Something terrible has happened,' she was certain.

"Please, baby? You can tell me anything," she tried to move away but Cole didn't release her – instead he buried his face in her hair and shook his head.

"Just a little bit more. I missed you so much."

"It's been only a week, Cole."

"Felt like an eternity since I held you close," he mumbled, took one last deep breath and then released her, stepping slightly away. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"That you had to see me like this." Sheepishly, he looked down at himself and Phoebe followed his gaze. He really didn't look good – like he had been stuck in a volcano for the whole week they hadn't seen each other.

"You were in trouble," she said softly. "That's why you didn't call sooner?"

Cole blinked and then nodded. "Yeah. Well. I wanted to see you and it couldn't be helped, really…"

Phoebe was ready to try and ask him what was going on. There was just something that screamed danger – and not the mortal kind – in his behavior that she was half tempted to wake up the rest of the house again. Was it a curse? She wouldn't be surprised, Cole looked like he had been in hell and back.

"Lunch date tomorrow?" Cole asked suddenly and gave her a grin. Now was her turn to blink at the sudden change in him, how quickly he put himself together. The smile he gave her now was very handsome, not that broken thing from earlier, and his eyes shone brightly.

"How about dinner?" she asked. Dinner sounded good. After dinner, people didn't have to go back to work and he wouldn't have a convenient excuse to disappear without talking about what the problem was. Phoebe was determined to find out what was wrong with him – and soon.

"Dinner? Yeah, yeah, that would be lovely. I'll pick you up. Seven?"

She agreed and Cole bent to peck her on the forehead, his smile turning tender and sweet. Phoebe tilted her head and gave him a kiss on the lips. Too swift and chaste for her taste but seeing yet again the totally amazed expression she got in return, she doubted Cole would survive a proper kiss without brain damage.

"Heh," he breathed, his hands sliding down to clasp hers. "I really missed you, Phoebe. See you tomorrow."

Giving her another very handsome, slightly dazed smile, Cole kissed her hand and turned, jogging down the steps and disappearing in the dark quickly.

"Cole, wait!" she called, horrified. On his back was a burnt-out hole that was awfully familiar – either from a fire or energy ball. There was also the matter of a wedding band she had felt on his ring finger as he had squeezed her hands.

"Wait, Cole!" She ran after him, jumping down the steps. The street was empty.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Phoebe had a bad feeling about this. 'Was it even Cole?'

-.-.-

Cole was still grinning to himself as he faded out of the street in front of Phoebe's house and reappeared in the local cemetery. He hadn't actually planned to speak to her looking like he did. He had just wanted to observe her for a moment or two as she had cleaned up the kitchen and watch out for Belthazor. Then the demon had come knocking and after a quick scuffle with his younger self at the door to the Halliwell manor, Cole hardly had a choice.

Belthazor had been a bit quicker and had shimmered out of his grasp just a moment before Phoebe had opened the door, leaving him to smooth things over.

It had been a close call.

"What the hell were you thinking, banging on her door like that? What if she saw us?" he asked his younger self as he strode into the mausoleum. "Are you trying to make her suspect us? Because let me tell you, that would make it very awkward for me in the long run."

"You won't touch her!" roared the demon – red and black face – as an energy ball slammed into Cole. He stumbled back, disbelief clearly written over his face.

"That was one hell of a shot!" he complimented and returned the favor. Belthazor shimmered out the way. He reappeared behind him, burying an athame in Cole's back.

"I won't let you touch her, do you hear me? Whoever you are, this ends now."

Cole grimaced in pain as he took several steps away from his younger self. "Oh, man, that's my kidney! Oh, damn! It hurts!"

He tried to reach the handle of the weapon, shaking his head, watching the demon from the corner of his eye. Belthazor didn't waste any time and sent several energy balls his way quickly. All hit their mark and Cole sank to his knees, flames erupting around him.

"Ah, well," he sighed, finally wrapping his fingers around the handle. In one smooth motion, he threw the athame at his younger self, hitting him in the chest. The demon slumped. As the flames surrounding Cole faded, he shrugged off the remains of his jacket and stalked towards him.

"Are you here on the Triad's orders?" he wheezed, morphing into his human form. Cole felt a stab of guilt at seeing his own face looking up at him with that particular expression.

"Hell, no!" he chuckled. "I'm no one's pawn, not anymore."

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" He flung the dagger away, pressing his palm against the wound.

Cole lifted his hand, showing the wedding band around his finger. The gold gleamed in the semidarkness momentarily. "You were going to screw the only one good thing in our lives, buddy. Two years from now, the woman we would gladly die for can't stand to look at your face. I'm here to fix that."

"You are… me?" repeated the demon slowly, disbelievingly. "That's impossible."

"Is it? Haven't you tried just recently to wipe off the Halliwell line from existence?"

His younger self remained silent, contemplating, his shirt soaked in red. Cole had pierced a lung, he guessed, and they both knew it. That's why Belthazor hadn't shimmered away – he was dying. The human hospital was out of the question and dark priests couldn't heal his human half. Cole never really realized how weak he had been before he had accumulated his powers. 'How the hell have I managed to live for a hundred years?'

"So, she said yes and then it all went to hell, huh? That's just so…"

"Typical," they said both in unison and grinned. Some things never changed.

"But don't worry, I won't repeat the same mistakes."

"I'm not thrilled by this; why not just warn me and get lost? Why do you want to replace me?" he asked, struggling to breathe.

'Why indeed?' Cole shrugged. "I'm selfish."

His younger self chuckled and coughed. "Yeah, that's true. Can you protect her and her sisters? She loves them. I can't imagine how she would take their deaths."

"Badly," Cole said, grimacing. "But that's not going to happen when I'm around. No one is going to hurt her, or the family. Our family. I'll make sure of it…"

His words were genuine, the truth in them undeniable. Phoebe was his only family now, and she loved her sisters. Even though he had never seen eye to eye with Prue and Paige was the most annoying person he had ever met, they were his family by marriage and if he would manage not to piss the Halliwells off this time around... perhaps their interactions could be even friendly.

"Hey, hey, it's getting dark and cold, isn't it?" he noticed that his younger self was not faring well. "Come on, give me your hand. I'll make it quicker, painless. You'll become a part of me."

He grabbed the bloodstained hand and closed his eyes. He felt it, his old powers dimly in the body of his younger self, and he called to them. As Belthazor was quickly slipping away, he absorbed his essence and it settled in him comfortably. Along with it, though, something else glided into him and Cole opened his eyes, gasping softly as he felt it make itself at home.

His younger self's soul merged with his own – and it hurt and burnt and soothed all at the same time. Before, he had always been only half of a human with half of a soul. Now, though, he could feel it. Two halves made one whole.

It brought tears to his eyes because it made him heavier and lighter, stronger and more vulnerable. The power of this new thing inside of him pushed at the darkness of the numerous demon essences he had collected and silenced their seductive whispers.

Cole smeared the blood of his younger self across his face as he started to laugh loudly. He could feel the difference – the oppressive weight in his mind was gone, and his head started to clear. He felt balanced. He had broken the chains which had bound him before. Now, he had a choice because he had the strength to really choose good or evil. There was no predestined path for him, only the one he would forge for himself.

He was finally free.

-.-.-

Krum, thank you for your comment : )

arwenishtar, I hope you will forgive me killing off the younger version. It was necessary for the story though – Cole can now actually start fixing things instead of destroying everything he loves, the poor dear.

Hope you had fun and stay tuned ;)