Note: Becca, the sequel to this story will be an entirely P/C story, okay? But first, you'll have to bear with the last chapters of this one. Cheer up, it won't take long: the trial will be on Thursday afternoon! ;-)

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Wednesday evening

Piper, Phoebe and Paige are chatting in the kitchen when Cole enters with Ben in his arms.

"Hey, look who's here!" says Phoebe, reaching out for her son. When Cole puts the baby in her arms, she gives him several sound kisses that make him giggle.

Piper raises her head from the vegetables she's been slicing and says, smiling:

"You should have seen dad sitting on the floor with him, playing peek-a-boo. Can you believe he actually called in sick to spend the afternoon with Ben?"

"Why?" Phoebe asks, while reaching out for the shells of the boiled eggs she was peeling and pushing them across the table towards Paige, out of Ben's reach. "I mean, it's not like he can't come over on the weekends to see him."

"He says that on weekends, with all of us around, there's too much competition." says Piper, giggling.

"That's because he's so irresistible," says Phoebe, taking one of Ben's chubby hands in hers and kissing it. "Aren't you, sweetie?"

Until now, Cole was unusually quiet, but he finally turns to Piper and asks, as nonchalantly as possible:

"Piper, has Leo come home yet?"

"You mean, since fifteen minutes ago, when you last asked me the same question? No," says Piper giving him a curious look. "This is the fourth time you ask me this, Cole. Is something wrong?"

"No," he says, averting her eyes as he sits by Phoebe's side and reaches out for one of the discarded eggshells.

While Cole fumbles with the eggshell, breaking tiny pieces out of it, Phoebe and Piper exchange a worried look across the table. Then, Phoebe takes the eggshell from Cole, wiping the pieces away before Ben grabs them.

"Cole, what happened this afternoon?" she asks.

"Hum, we did something today... that maybe we shouldn't have done," says Cole. Piper arches her eyebrows inquisitively, and he adds, shrugging: "But it seemed to be such a good idea then."

"We?" says Phoebe. "Like in, you and Leo?"

"Yes," says Cole, glancing at Piper. "But it was my idea."

Piper places the knife on the table, next to the sliced vegetables, feeling cold winged butterflies swirling around in her stomach.

"What was your idea?" she asks, in a low, controlled voice.

"To go to the trolls' village to do some research."

"To the trolls' village?" Phoebe asks, puzzled. "But, baby, how did you... Oh!" -- her eyes grow big as the implications of Cole's words sink in.

"Did Leo orb you there?" Piper asks, alarmed. "Mr. 'no magic involved'?"

"Were you out of your minds?" Paige asks, shocked.

"I, uh... we just..."

"What happened then?" Piper asks, afraid to hear the answer.

"The Elders summoned him," says Cole. He winces at the way Piper closes her eyes and rubs her forehead. "I'm sorry, I didn't think that..."

"You didn't think. Period," snaps Piper, cutting him. "Then again, neither did Leo. I can't believe he let you talk him into this!"

"Cole, you have to understand that Leo's position is much more delicate than ours," says Phoebe. "He can't afford breaking the rules the way we do."

Cole opens his mouth, then thinks again and closes it, afraid that anything he says will only make things worse.

Piper absently grabs one of the carrots she was dicing and starts to chew it nervously.

"Maybe it was just a coincidence," she says, in an attempt to reassure herself, "maybe they wanted to talk with him about something else."

"Sure," says Phoebe, reaching out and fondling her sister's hand. "After all, he has been away for longer than that later, hasn't he?"

"Uh-hu," says Piper. "Besides, they can't just keep him there indefinitely, right? After all, he's not just our Whitelighter; he's my husband. They can't take my husband away. Right?"

"Right," says Paige, glaring at Cole. "He's probably on his way back home now."

As if on key, Leo orbs in. Piper immediately stands up and holds him, saying:

"Honey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, honey, don't worry," he says, putting his arm around her shoulders and kissing her forehead. In fact, he looks more bewildered than upset and, after reassuring his wife, he turns to Cole, saying: "I guess you've already told them."

"Yes," says Cole. "Were the Elders mad?"

Leo gives him an odd look before answering.

"Well, they scolded me. But..." He frowns, thinks for a while and says: "You know when Ben tries to grab the remote? And you have to tell him 'no no no', not because it's a bad thing, but because he's too young to learn how to use it?"

"Uh, yes," says Cole, giving him a puzzled look.

"It's hard to explain," says Leo, "but I have this feeling that the Elders were scolding me mostly because they had to do so. They weren't all that mad, even if they tried to sound like they were."

"Are you sure about that, honey?" Piper asks, intrigued.

"I've seen them mad before, Piper," Leo says, with a half smile. "If they were as mad as they sounded, they wouldn't have let me get away with this so easily, believe me."

He turns to Cole again and says:

"You won't even have to hitchhike with the prosecutor, if you don't want to. I've got permission to orb you to the trolls' village for the trial."

"Now, that's a twist," says Piper, bewildered.

"Can I go, too?" Phoebe suddenly asks.

"Uh, I guess," says Leo, raising his eyebrows. "But shouldn't you be at work?"

"I'll speed things up in the morning," she says, confidently. "If I get my work done by noon, I'm sure I can take the afternoon off."

"Well, I can orb the two of you," says Leo.

"Can you make it three?" Piper asks.

Leo looks at her, surprised; then, he turns to Cole and asks:

"Would that be a problem?"

"Not for me," says Cole, shrugging.

"Then, I guess it's okay. Uh, Paige?" -- Leo turns to the youngest Halliwell, with an interrogative look.

"I have to work," she says, dryly.

In an attempt to fill the awkward silence that follows, Phoebe says:

"You know, I'm impressed with this sudden change of heart. It's not like the Elders to be that tolerant."

"Maybe they decided to go easy on Leo because of his 'delicate condition'," says Cole, whose penitent disposition flew out the window at the moment he learned that there'd be no consequences for Leo.

"Don't push it," whispers Phoebe, eyeing him. "I'm not done with you yet."

This is what it takes to silence Cole up; a quick look at Piper's face tells Leo that he, too, has something coming to him later.

"I'm glad you find it amusing," Paige grunts, standing up with an annoyed expression. The others look at her and she adds, shrugging: "I have a dinner date." -- she turns to Piper -- "Come on, I had already told you I wouldn't be home for dinner."

After she leaves, Phoebe says:

"I'd better go talk to her."

"Don't," says Cole, standing up. "I will."

Phoebe gives him a surprised look, and he says, shrugging:

"The worst thing that can happen is that she'll yell at me, and at least she'll be yelling at the person she's really mad at." He hesitates, then asks: "She hasn't developed any lethal power recently, right?"

"No," says Piper, "but she can get really loud."

"Are you sure about this?" Phoebe asks, intrigued.

"Just go rescue me if I don't come back in twenty minutes, okay?" Cole asks, half seriously.

After he leaves the kitchen, Phoebe, Piper and Leo exchange doubtful looks. Finally, Piper says, shrugging:

"It can't hurt. Well, unless Paige throws something on him..."

"I don't... ugh!" says Phoebe, grimacing.

"What?" says Piper.

"Diaper emergency," says Phoebe, standing up. "Excuse us," she adds, leaving the kitchen with Ben.

Piper watches her leave, then turns to Leo, crossing her arms in front of her chest and cocking her head to the side.

"Well...?"

"I know what you're gonna say, and..." Leo starts to say, but Piper holds up her hand to silence him up.

"Shush," she says. "I'll give you a piece of my mind later. Right now, what I'm asking you is, what else happened up there?"

"You know, it's a good thing I'm not cheating on you," he says, smirking. "You can read me like a book."

"Yeah, yeah..." she says, smiling. "Come on, hubby, spill it out."

"The usual," says Leo, casting a quick look towards the door. Then he gets serious again and says, lowering his voice: "They're up to something, but they won't tell me what it is."

"Are they still asking questions about Cole?" Piper asks, in the same tone.

"All the time," says Leo, frowning. "You know, if they just told me what they want to know, maybe I could help. But they don't."

"They've been like this for a lot of time now, Leo," says Piper. "Shouldn't we tell Phoebe and Cole?"

"No," says Leo, firmly. "For a start, I shouldn't even be telling this to you. If we brought Phoebe and Cole into this, we might screw up whatever it is that the Elders have planned, and even if all this mystery unsettles me, I still trust that they mean no harm to Cole. I mean, they let me save him when the Source was vanquished: why would they have done that if they intended to do something against him later?"

"I don't know," Piper sighs. "It's just that secrets don't agree with this family. They have a way of coming between us in the worst possible moments."

"Come here," says Leo, pulling her towards him. He holds her and gently fondles her hair, saying: "Just give me some more time: I'll try to figure out what's going on."

Piper rests her head on his chest, cuddling with him, and fervently hoping that he's right.