Oblivious to the tension building between his mother and his grandmother, Ben had just discovered the jeweled pins that kept Erzsebet's braid still and reached out for them. While he tugged with one of them, loosening a few hair strands, Erzsebet said flatly to Phoebe:
"I didn't find any bruises or scratches; plus, he is alert and responsive. If I were you I'd keep an eye on him for the next 24 hours or so, just in case, but I don't think there'll be any problems."
Then she gently took the pin from Ben's hands and handed the boy over to Phoebe without another word. She watched in silence as Phoebe took a step back, holding Ben as tight as possible and covering the toddler's face with kisses and tears.
Cole had stood up and was standing right behind Phoebe; he tried to speak, but choked, and just passed one arm around her shoulders and the other around their baby, holding them both in the same loving embrace. They stood there for a moment, until Ben started to feel uncomfortable: being hugged and kissed was a common part of his life, and one he quite enjoyed, but now mommy and daddy were starting to squeeze him a little too hard, and he whined and squirmed in their arms, trying to free himself.
"Sorry, buddy," said Cole, smiling through his tears and releasing his grip on him, "I guess you need some space to breath, huh?" he added, wiping the tears off his face and affectionately kissing his son.
Only them did he notice that Erzsebet's blue shawl was neatly wrapped around Ben's shoulders, covering his teddy bear PJs. As Cole gave his mother a puzzled look, she just shrugged and said, matter-of-factly:
"It was cold down there."
Cole reached out for the shawl, intending to hand it back to his mother, but Ben clenched his small fists around it and protested vehemently:
"No!"
Before Cole and Phoebe could insist with him, Erzsebet dismissed it with a wave of her hand. Seeing that he'd be allowed to keep his most recently acquired possession, Ben immediately turned his attention to more pressing matters. Spotting the baby bag resting on the floor next to the couch, his eyes lightened up and he eagerly reached out for it: he was hungry, and he knew that food usually came out of that bag.
As Phoebe sat on the couch and took the bottle out of the bag, Leo, Piper and Paige surrounded her, willing to welcome their nephew back. Cole watched them for a moment but, instead of joining them, he ran his hand across his face, wiping away the last tears, and then he turned to his mother, uncertain. He looked her in the eyes and she returned his stare without a word, until he broke the silence, saying simply:
"Thank you, mother."
"It was rather easy," she said, nonchalantly. "She clearly wasn't expecting resistance."
"Is she...?"
"Dead?" -- Erzsebet arched her eyebrows -- "But of course. You don't take prisoners in this business."
"Did you, uh, get the chance to find out what she was up to?"
"So, now I'm supposed to not only do your job and bring your son back but also give you a full report?" she snapped.
Seeing him wince slightly, she sighed heavily and said:
"Vengeance, that's what she was up to: an urobachian demon was working with her."
Cole drew a sharp intake of breath: urobachian demons were known for being able to keep their victms alive for long periods of time, albeit inflicting enormous pain. With the corner of his eye he was relieved to see that the name brought no reaction from Phoebe.
"Is he dead, too?" he asked his mother.
"Have I ever left a task half-done?" she asked, coldly.
"No," he said. "Of course not."
Erzsebet studied Cole's face as he absorbed the information she had just given him, looking for any traces of doubt. The fact that there was none showed her that he wasn't any more well-informed than Julie and her partner had been. Not that it actually surprised her: the Source had made sure that little piece of information didn't spread in the Underworld; as for the other side, she didn't think they would tell him. "They probably still find this subject rather embarrassing," she thought, bitterly.
With a quick glance towards Ben, who was now snuggled in Phoebe's arms and sucking his bottle contentedly, she said:
"I should be going now."
"Can I have a word with you before you leave?" Cole asked, impulsively, surprising her as much as himself.
As he saw his mother hesitate, Cole was afraid she was going to just shimmer out without a word. Instead, she sighed and said:
"Since I'm already here..."
Cole casted a somewhat sheepish glance towards his family, saying:
"We'll, uh..." -- he pointed at the door to the solarium.
"Go," said Phoebe, softly.
Cole showed the way to his mother, and followed her to the solarium. Once they were there, he closed the door behind him and looked at her, not so sure of what to say, until she said, slightly impatient:
"Well, Belthazor?..."
Seeing him stiffen up, she said, sharply:
"Oh, I suppose I should call you Cole?"
"That's my name," he said, unconsciously reverting to the defiant tone that had put him in trouble so many times during his teenage years.
His mother's eyes sparkled dangerously.
"I suggest you watch your tone," she hissed. "Now that you don't have your demon self any more, this kind of behavior can earn you much worse than a few bruises."
Before he could retort, though, she abruptly changed the course of the conversation, saying:
"So, what do you want... Cole?" -- oddly enough, his human name sounded somewhat familiar in her voice, even if he couldn't remember her having ever used it.
Cole shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to buy time. The truth was, he didn't know what to say; he didn't have anything in mind when he asked her to stay: the words just... came out of his mouth.
"If you knew I was back in the Underworld, why didn't you come to see me?" he burst out.
"After all the work you had put yourself through in order to make me think you were dead?" she sneered, arching her eyebrows in mocking puzzlement.
"I..." -- he looked at her, baffled -- "But I had to. I couldn't... When Phoebe pretended to have vanquished me, there were bounty hunters after me, I had just killed the Triad and..."
"Not that time!" -- she cut him off, impatiently -- "I knew the witch hadn't vanquished you then! How obtuse do you think I am?"
"You mean you knew I wasn't dead?" he said, surprised.
"Oh, please! Don't you think I'd have known if you had been vanquished?"
"I don't know, I... I just assumed. You didn't tell anyone."
"Well, I didn't know what you were up to," she said, "but I knew you must have your reasons to fake your own death. Of course," she added, dryly, "I'd never have imagined that your reasons included a good witch, and a Charmed One to boot."
Cole slowly sat on one of the wicker chairs, all the more confused.
"Then, when?..." he asked.
"When your demon self was vanquished, when else?" she said, angrily. "You went off my radar, what was I supposed to think?"
Her face was slightly flushed, and her eyes sparkled fierily as she said that. She could have told him then of the agonizing pain that had woken her up in the middle of the night, screaming in physical pain as much as in grief. About how she hadn't been able to go back to sleep, lying there all night covered in cold sweat, trembling and feverish, knowing in her guts that something had been taken away from her, something that could never be replaced.
She could have told him all this, but she didn't. Instead, she regained her wits enough to say, nonchalantly:
"I didn't know you were alive until you and your witch showed up for the coronation."
"I, uh... I never..." Cole stammered, baffled. "I didn't mean to..."
"I didn't ask what your reasons were," his mother said, coldly. "I was just answering your question on why I didn't go looking for you."
Then she added, in a lower voice, so low that he wasn't sure whether she was talking to him or just thinking aloud:
"Anyway, to live among humans you must burn the bridges."
They remained in silence for a moment, until he asked, somewhat timidly:
"Will I... see you again?"
"I doubt," she said, flatly. Then, softening up ever so slightly: "And it'll be best if we don't. I'm a demon; you're... working with good witches. If we met again, we'd probably be trying to kill each other."
"I guess you're right," he said, without much conviction.
Erzsebet was standing right before him, and Cole understood that she was going to say goodbye. He kept his eyes down, though, as if avoiding eye contact he could postpone the inevitable.
After a brief hesitation, Erzsebet said, almost gently:
"Take care."
Then, she did something she hadn't done for more than a century: she leaned forward and kissed her baby.
It was very quick: her lips barely grazed his cheek and, before Cole could react, his mother had already shimmered out. He gasped and raised his head, whirling it from side to side, looking for her. When it became obvious that she was gone, he swallowed hard and whispered, hoarsely:
"Good bye, mom."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Is he alright?" Piper whispered, peering over Phoebe's shoulder.
"I guess," Phoebe said in the same tone, as she looked through the glass door. "But I don't see her anywhere: I think she's gone."
She sighed and turned to the others.
"I know she's a demoness, but she's his mother, too. And until today it never occurred to me that he could be missing her."
"Honey," said Paige, resting her hand on her shoulder, "as you've just said, she's a demoness: what were you supposed to do, invite her to stay for dinner?"
"I know," said Phoebe. "But he looks so..." -- she glanced at Cole again and waved her head sadly -- "I wish there was something I could do."
"Maybe you should just give him time," said Leo. "He'll talk when he's ready."
As they talked in whispers, Ben was squirming in his mother's arms and stretching his neck to look at Cole. It was obvious to him that there was something wrong with his father, and being kept apart from him was rather unsettling.
"Dada?" he called out, giving the door a puzzled look.
Phoebe's eyes grew big as she heard that, and so did the others'.
"When did he learn that?" Piper asked.
"Uh, I don't know," said Phoebe, smiling. "It's the first time I hear him say that..."
"Dada!" Ben called again, with some impatience.
"I think," said Leo, "that this applies as 'something you could do'."
"You think so?" Phoebe asked, casting a hesitant look towards the door.
"I'm pretty sure it'll cheer him up," said Leo, smiling.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Cole had his head down when Phoebe carefully pushed the door open. He didn't raise it until she was by his side, and it broke Phoebe's heart to see his red eyes.
"Hey," he said as she quietly pulled a chair and sat by his side.
"Hey," she said, softly. "There's something your son wants to say to you."
"Oh, is there?" he said, with a weak smile. He took Ben from her arms, flinching slightly as his fingers touched the shawl that no one had been able to take from the toddler yet.
Ben studied his father's face with a puzzled expression, tiny wrinkles forming on his brow as he frowned slightly. Everyone seemed to be acting strange that day. The blond lady that had taken him from his crib smiled most of the time and talked softly to him, but there was something about her that made her wrong. The one with dark hair, on the other hand, barely smiled, still she felt definitely right. The colorful blanket she had given to him was scented like her, and that's why he had wanted to keep it. It was a "right" scent, and a "right" blanket. In the cave, before she brought him back home, she had held him very, very tight, and he hadn't wanted her to go. And now daddy was smiling, but he was also sad. Ben had seem him worried some times, and he had seem him angry; but he had never seen him so sad, and nothing in his short life experience told him what to do on cases like that.
"Dada?" he said, tentatively.
Cole gasped, looking at the round little face turned up towards his.
"You said... You... He said...?" he stammered, turning to Phoebe with amazed eyes.
"I think so," she said, smiling and fondling his arm.
Seeing that he accomplished something there, Ben called again, with more conviction this time:
"Dada!"
He frowned, worried, as he saw the tears starting to form in daddy's eyes again. To make things all the more confusing, daddy was also smiling brightly, and Ben finally decided to give him the same treatment mommy reserved for the big tragedies of his little life, like dropping a favorite toy or having a really scary nightmare: he snuggled with him, cooing softly, and he even let daddy hug him really tight and didn't protest.
As Phoebe cuddled with them, Cole put his arm around her and pulled her towards him, closing his eyes and finding comfort in her closeness, and in their son's loving gibberish. And in the sweet perfume that impregnated the shawl on the toddler's shoulders.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Leo stood in front of the Elders, trying to conceal his impatience; under his composed exterior, though, he was boiling inside. They had summoned him a few minutes after Phoebe and Ben joined Cole in the solarium, and had once again flooded him with questions. By the look in Piper's eyes when he orbed out, Leo knew that she, too, would have lots of questions when he came back, and he had the unpleasant feeling that, like usual, he'd have no answers to give her. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep Piper from telling Phoebe about the Elders' mysterious behavior, and he couldn't blame her: more than once he, too, had been tempted to talk to Cole about it.
Now, he watched silently as the Elders talked among themselves. He tried to look as uninterested as possible, even though he was dying to know what was making them lose their proverbial serenity.
"We can't keep on postponing it indefinitely, you know," said one of the Elders, and although some of his peers nodded in approval, many of them looked rather reticent, and a few even made small sounds of impatience.
"Not indefinitely, of course," said another one, frowning his brow and slightly narrowing his eyes. "Just until the right moment. Just until it's safe."
"Maybe this right moment of yours has already come and we've missed it by being overcautious," said a third one, a black woman with beautiful, lively eyes.
"I don't think there's such a thing as overcautious," said the one she was talking to, dryly. "Not when there's so much at stake."
The black woman was about to retort when a bald man with rosy cheeks and a cherubic smile said, conciliatorily:
"Now, now, even if the time had come to deal with this, uh, situation -- and note that I'm not saying it actually has -- I'm sure we'd all agree that today wouldn't be the day for it."
"Allow me to differ, Walfrid," said a tall man with steely green eyes. "I think this little episode just comes to show that we must take the reins before other parties intervene, if you know what I mean."
"My dear Julius, should I remind you of what happened the last time we tried to -- as you put it -- take the reins?" said an old man with a long white beard, and Leo could barely suppress an exclamation of surprise at the hint of sarcasm held in the Elder's voice.
"Azhar, I don't..." started Julius, but Walfrid raised his hands, giving him and Azhar a reproachful look.
"Gentlemen, please!" he said. "We all have agreed a long time ago to let that sorrowful episode go!..."
"Anyway, what if it doesn't get any safer than that?" pursued the one who had spoken first, subconsciously tugging with his reddish beard.
"Then I say we forget the whole thing," said the one who had been accused of being overcautious. "Take it as sign that some things just aren't mean to be."
That caused a commotion among the Elders, as they all started to talk very excitedly, until the one with the reddish beard cleared his throat, subtly motioning his head towards Leo, and a heavy silence fell over the room, as if only then they had remembered that the Whitelighter was still there.
"Hum, Leo, you're dismissed now," said the black woman. "Thank you."
"Are you sure you don't...?" he started, but Julius cut him off.
"We'll let you know if we need you," he said, flatly.
Concealing his disappointment the best he could, Leo bowed respectfully and orbed out.
Once he was gone, Julius sighed heavily and said sourly to no one in particular:
"We should have vanquished that damned creature when we had the chance..."
The End
(Next installment: The Coleville Horror)