Note #1: Believe it or not, there's actually a small city named Coleville in California.
Note #2: This story is part of a series, and will be better understood by those who've read the previous installments. The sequence of the stories is: (1) Redemption; (2) The Demon's Advocate; (3) So Mote It Be; (4) Fruit of My Womb; (5) The Coleville Horror. For those who haven't read the previous stories, here's the scenery: the Source is gone, Cole and Phoebe have left the Underworld for good, and their son is a one year old human baby. Piper is seven months pregnant, but it's Leo who's having all the side effects, like morning sickness, cravings and mood swings. For more details, read the previous stories.
Note #3: Be patient and read it until the end, and I promise you'll finally know the reason why the Elders are so interested on Cole.
Note #4: The seed of this story was planted in my mind more than a year ago by Mary Hines, author of some of the best Charmed fictions I've ever read and thanks to whom I started to write fan fiction, too. This seed finally sprouted thanks to a story written by a fellow fan fiction writer, whose name I won't tell until last chapter because I could be giving away the story. But I just couldn't post this story without a thank you note to both of them.
Credits: This is getting boring. I guess I should prepare a standard disclaimer and stick to it. So, here it goes: I don't own any of the Charmed characters, I never meant to infringe anyone's copyrights, so please take this story for what it is -- fun -- and don't bother to suit me.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Thank you so much, counselor. I don't know what I'd have done if it wasn't for you."
Cole smiled at the beautiful brunette sitting before him in the solarium and said:
"You're very welcome, Amber. But from now on, please don't sign anything before you read it carefully, okay? Next time it may not be so easy to release you from a contract."
"I know..." -- she sighed and pulled her lower lip between her teeth -- "But they're so hard to understand, with all those tiny teeny letters!..."
"Well, I'm afraid that's exactly the idea," said Cole, chuckling slightly. "But at least bring any legal documents for me to read before you sign them, okay?"
"That's very kind of you, counselor..." said Amber, smiling.
"That's an ounce of prevention, Amber," said Cole, smirking. "It's much less trouble than the pound of cure I'd have to provide later."
Amber giggled, then she leaned forward and said, in a more serious manner:
"Now, how much do I own you?"
"Nothing," said Cole, waving his head. "I know that this trial has drained most of your savings. This one is on the house."
"Oh, but I must pay you!" protested Amber.
"I'm serious, Amber," said Cole. "I won't accept money from you."
"Well, my cousin Emerald told me that she couldn't afford paying you in cash, either, and you accepted what she had to offer."
As Cole said nothing, Amber insisted:
"Come on, there must be something I can do for you!"
"Oh well, if you insist..." said Cole, giving in. He turned towards the door and called out loud: "Piper! What are we short of?"
After a quick survey in the supplies' cabinet, Piper yelled from the kitchen:
"Celandine, spurge nettle... and we're on the edge of running out of calla pollen."
As Cole turned back to Amber with an inquisitive look, she asked:
"Would ten pounds of calla pollen do it?"
"For the next three generations of Halliwells, I think it would," Cole said, smiling.
"Then calla pollen it is!" she said, smiling brightly and clapping her hands in childlike joy. "I'll have my brother bring it to you first thing tomorrow morning. Now," she added, standing up and spreading a pair of beautiful iridescent wings, "I shall not take any more of your time. Again, thank you, counselor. And give my regards to that lovely wife of yours."
"I will," said Cole, standing up, too, and Amber flapped her wings fast, becoming more and more translucent and turning into a small twinkling light that flew out the window and quickly disappeared towards the sky.
"Another happy customer?"
Cole turned around to see Piper standing at the doorway, smiling.
"You know," he said, with an amused smile, "when I took Sarsour's case I never thought I'd become the attorney for nine out of ten magical creatures."
"Yes, you've become rather popular."
"I just wish some of my customers could pay me with the good old money," Cole said, putting his hands in his pockets with a sigh.
"Well, I don't," said Piper. "Thanks to you, we have saved a lot of money in magical supplies during these last five months."
"Yeah," he said, without much enthusiasm.
"What?" Piper said, frowning slightly. "Are you and Phoebe short of money?"
"No," he asked, too quickly.
"Cole..." she said, placing her hands on her hips.
"No, Piper, we don't need money," he insisted, but she cocked her head aside and squinted her eyes, still unconvinced.
Just then, they heard Ben calling through the baby monitor:
"Dada!"
"Ben is up," Cole said, promptly walking past Piper and heading towards the stairs.
Piper followed him, not intending to drop the subject just yet. She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes as she followed Cole upstairs: men could be so silly when it came to money! Every time she and Leo went out, she had to give him the money before they left the house, so that he wouldn't feel embarrassed when she paid the bill. And she knew Phoebe did the same with Cole, especially when they double dated with Paige and her boyfriend.
"Cole, if there's something you need..."
"There's nothing we need," he said, without looking back. After some hesitation, though, he added: "There's something I want, but it'd require more money than you could lend us, and even if it didn't, we could never afford to pay you back, so never mind."
"Okay," she said, catching up with him on the second floor, "but can't you at least tell me what it is that you'd like to buy? Just out of curiosity?"
"You know," he said, stopping by his bedroom's door and spinning around to face her, "sometimes you can be such a..."
"Such a what?" she said, a little taken aback.
"Such a Halliwell," he said, smiling.
Piper smiled back at him, but her smile faltered ever so slightly when Cole added, with an amused smile:
"I'll bet Leo has a hard time keeping from you things the Elders tell him."
Piper felt a pang of guilt as she thought of the things Leo had been sharing with her during the past months, and that they were keeping from her sister and her brother in law. Cole didn't seem to notice her uneasiness, though, as he blurted:
"The house next door." Piper raised an inquisitive eyebrow and he proceeded: "I'd like to..."
"Dada, dada, dada!" Ben called from inside, as he decided that daddy needed some extra incentive.
"Right here, right here, right here!" Cole answered, laughing, as he entered the room, followed by Piper.
Ben was standing in his crib, with both hands leaning on the rail for support. As soon as he saw Cole, he started to jump up and down, excitedly.
"Wow! Did you get all this energy from just a nap?" Cole said, amused, as he scooped his son up and gave him a sound kiss. He turned back to Piper, smiling, but his smile vanished as it became clear that Ben needed to be changed.
"Hey!" he said, grimacing, "Hadn't we agreed that you'd only do this when mommy was around?"
He gave Piper a hopeful look, but she crossed her arms in front of her chest and said, giving him a mocking smile:
"In your dreams."
Cole let out a resigned sigh and went to the drawer where Phoebe kept the diapers. While he laid Ben on the double bed and prepared to bear his parental duty, Piper sat on the other edge of the bed and pursued:
"So, the house next door...?"
"Right," Cole said, grimacing as he unfastened the diaper tabs and faced its contents. "It seemed to be the perfect arrangement: close enough to be safe yet distant enough to be comfortable. Don't take me wrong," he quickly added, putting the soiled diaper aside and reaching out for the baby wipes, "but I'm afraid this house has reached its limit when it comes to overpopulation. It's not that I don't like being around you guys, but I'd also like to be able to get up late and still have some hot water left, and to have a bedroom apart from Ben's before he goes to college, and to be able to use the phone without having to get on the waiting list, and..."
"... and you're a married guy with a family, and you feel that you need some space," said Piper, finishing the thought for him.
Cole raised his eyes from the clean diaper he had just slid underneath Ben's bottom, looking with some surprise at her smiling face.
"Been there, done that," she said, shrugging.
"So," he said, cautiously, "you don't think I'm being rash? I mean, 'cause last time we..."
"Last time," Piper said, interrupting him, "you and Phoebe moved all the way across town, not next door. And let's not forget the 'Source of All Evil' factor."
Cole sighed in relief: he and Phoebe had agreed months ago to bring up the subject and see what the others thought, but between attacks from evil and the more prosaic demands of the real world, that talk always seemed to get postponed. The truth was, the fact that they both wanted it so badly didn't make the decision any easier. Quite the contrary, that was one of the most powerful appeals of evil: doing anything they felt like doing, caring for nothing but their own needs. That's why the approval of an impartial third party was so reassuring.
"We could tear out the wall between the two houses," he added, fastening the diaper tabs, "even build a covered passageway linking them. And..."
"Cole, I hate to be the one to rain on your parade," said Piper, holding up her hand, "but note that I've only said that I understand how you feel. As you've just mentioned, I can't afford lending you guys the money to actually buy the house."
"Right," said Cole, and his smiled faded into an embarrassed smirk. "The money. For a moment, I actually forgot about it."
"But, you know," said Piper, "even if we can't afford something as big as an entire house, we could consider something smaller and cheaper, like one or two extra rooms. I mean, not today, but maybe in a month or two, if things keep going well at P3... It's not as good as a new house, but, still..."
"That'd be really good," said Cole, smiling. He checked out the diaper tabs and threw the used baby wipes in a plastic bag, along with the dirty diaper.
As he scooped Ben up, intending to take him downstairs and to discard the bag and its undesirable content, they heard footsteps coming down the corridor and Paige appeared at the doorway.
"Hi!" she said, walking in.
"Hi!" said Ben, waving at her with great enthusiasm.
"Here's my boy!" she cooed, entering the room and taking the toddler from Cole's arms.
"Here," she said, handing an envelope to Cole, "this came for Phoebe. There's one for you, too, Piper. And one, uh, for Prue."
"That's odd," said Piper, receiving the two identical envelopes Paige handed her and reading the sender's address. "Smith and Cage, Attorneys at Law."
She started to open hers, then looked at Cole, who was fumbling with the one in his hand, obviously dying to see what was inside.
"Cole, won't you open Phoebe's? It's clearly not a personal letter, and the two of you are married."
"Yes, but..." -- Cole took one last look at the envelope and put it on the nightstand with a sigh -- "Nah, I guess I'll just wait for her to arrive from work."
"If you say so..." said Piper, shrugging. "Would you like to read mine? I'll probably end up asking your opinion, anyway," she said, handing him the envelope, which he promptly took.
Cole sat on the edge of the bed and started to read the letter, while Piper and Paige peered over his shoulders.
"Hum!" -- he quickly got to the core while the two girls struggled past the swamp of juridical terminology -- "So, tell me, how close are you guys to your great-aunt Helen?"
"Helen?" said Piper, intrigued. "We don't have a great-aunt Helen."
"Well, these guys seem to believe that you do. I mean, you did."
"Did?" said Piper, arching her eyebrows. "Is she dead?"
"Who's dead?"
Ben let out a happy squeal as he saw Phoebe standing at the doorway, and she promptly entered the room.
"Hey, sweetie!" she said. "Mommy is home! Did you miss me?"
"I know I did," said Cole, smiling as he pulled her to his lap and kissed her.
"Oh, please!" said Paige, rolling her eyes. "Get a room, you two!"
"Actually, we've already got one," said Cole, with a mocking smile, "but there's a family meeting taking place in it."
As if on key, Leo orbed in.
"Why is everyone here?" he asked, intrigued.
"Apparently," said Phoebe, "someone's dead. I mean, besides you."
"Their great-aunt Helen," said Paige.
"We don't have a great-aunt Helen," said Phoebe.
"Helen Louise Bennett," Cole read it out loud.
"From dad's side?" said Piper. "Maybe we should ask him."
"I think you should," said Cole, looking at the letter, "because she left you and Phoebe a property in..." -- he frowned and read it again -- "... Coleville? There's a city named Coleville?"
"Now, you're making that up!" said Paige, snapping the letter from his hand. "Dear Miss Halliwell, blah blah blah, passed away last month, blah blah blah, last will..." -- Cole put his finger right under the penultimate paragraph -- "Can you believe it? Coleville, County of Mono, California."
"That's it!" said Piper, standing up. "I'm gonna call dad."
"And I'm gonna get a map of California." said Paige, handing Ben over to Phoebe and leaving on Piper's heels.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A phone call and a search on the map later, they were all gathered in the living room.
"According to dad," Piper was saying, "Aunt Helen was his father's eldest sister. She was sort of, uh, eccentric: as far as he knew, she hadn't spoken to anyone in the family for the last twelve years or so. And she didn't leave anything to any of her male relatives: apparently she left her jewels to our cousin Claire... you remember Claire, right Phoebe? She sends us a Christmas card every year."
"Uh, blond hair, married a doctor, no kids, lives in Atlanta?" said Phoebe.
"Divorced the doctor, married an accountant, had twins, moved to LA. Gee, Phoebe, have you ever read any of those cards?"
"Not really," said Phoebe, giving her an apologizing smile, "you're the one who does all the public relations around here."
Piper rolled her eyes on her and proceeded:
"Anyway, the point is: she left us this house in Coleville and, since Prue is dead, I guess it means each of us own half of it. Right?" she said, looking at Cole.
"Sure," he said, "since she died after Prue."
"So," said Phoebe, "it leaves you and me. What are we gonna do about it?"
"Sell it, I guess," said Piper, shrugging. "I mean, I don't intend to move from San Francisco. Do you?"
"To Coleville?" said Phoebe, giggling. "I don't think so. No offense, baby," she added, smiling at Cole.
"None taken," he said, chuckling. "By the way, where is this Coleville City?"
"Close to the Nevada border," said Paige, who still had the map on her knees. "In fact, it can be barely called a city," she added with a sneer, "the last census showed a population of 1,370 people."
"Yeah, yeah..." said Cole, dismissing her with a wave of his hand, "show me a city named Paigeville and then we'll talk."
"Well, one of us should go there and see the place," Phoebe reasoned, turning to Piper again. "I mean, aren't you at least curious to know what we've inherited?"
"After talking to dad, I wouldn't expect much if I were you," said Piper. "But yes, I suppose one of us -- and honestly, I was expecting this one to be you -- should take a look at the place and talk to the lawyers, and see that it's sold."
"Why don't we all go?" said Paige, out of the blue.
"Excuse me?" said Piper, raising her eyebrows.
"Come on, that'd be fun! We could have a weekend out! It's not that far away: it seems like a six-hour journey. If we get up at seven, we can leave at eight, drive for, say, four hours, have lunch on the road, drive for a couple of more hours and get there by three, which would give you and Phoebe plenty of time to..."
"Hold on a second, miss road runner!" said Piper, raising her hands. "Let me tell you what would really happen: Leo and I would get up at seven, you would get up at seven thirty, and Mr. and Mrs. Turner here" -- she points at Cole and Phoebe -- "wouldn't leave their bedroom until eight thirty. Besides... oh God, don't give me that look!"
"We never do things together..." Paige said, with her best puppy dog eyes. "At least, not things that don't include killing and avoiding being killed."
"You know, maybe it'd be fun," said Phoebe, smiling, "even if we only got there at six p.m., what's the big deal? We could spend the night in the city -- they must have at least one decent hotel -- take a look at the house on Sunday morning, have lunch and then drive back home."
Piper didn't look very convinced, but she turned to Leo and asked:
"Honey, what do you think?"
"Well," he said, shrugging, "as long as you guys don't mind turning those six hours into eight, maybe nine. Since you entered the third trimester," he explained with some embarrassment, "it seems like I need to pee every twenty minutes or so."
He glanced at the amused smile Cole didn't even bother to hide and said, rolling his eyes:
"It's been more than six months now, and you still find it just as amusing as you did on the first day, don't you?"
"Technically," Cole said, grinning, "it's been only four months, since we only found out about your, uh, condition when Piper was almost three months pregnant. But yes, I still enjoy every minute of it, and how could I not, when there's always something new happening? The Braxton-what's-his-face episode, for example..."
"Cole Turner, will you stop? This is just mean!" said Phoebe, shoving his arm. Turning to Leo, who had turned pale, she added, reassuringly: "Those were not contractions: believe me, I should know, I had them for ten hours. Your imagination is playing tricks on you because you're nervous, and with no reason: you can't have contractions when you don't have an uterus."
"Well, during the last months I have been feeling a whole lot of things that, strictly speaking, I couldn't feel..." Leo said, grimacing, and Piper snugged him.
"Oh, honey..." she cooed.
"So," said Paige, "are we going to Coleville or not?"
"Well," said Phoebe, "if Piper and Leo are up to this... Baby?" she asked, turning to Cole.
"I don't mind," said Cole, smiling. "I have to admit that I'm curious about this city."
"Yay!" said Paige, smiling brightly. "Family trip!"
"Yay!" Ben echoed, clapping his hands and making the grown ups laugh.