Cole yawned and shifted position on the bed, but didn't care to open his eyes just yet: the moment he did, he'd be officially awake, and then the events of the night before would require his attention. And he just wasn't ready for that yet. His powers, Ben's powers, witches and demons, having a Whitelighter... Cole frowned, annoyed, as he realized that the memories of the previous night were already sneaking their way into his mind. He rubbed his sore neck, while stubbornly keeping his eyes shut.

After checking in the hotel the night before, he and Phoebe had left Piper at her room and headed towards theirs. Ben had been mercifully asleep during the whole process, and Phoebe had laid him on the middle of the king size bed with a sigh of relief. She and Cole had just changed into their pajamas when Paige knocked on the door with two pizza boxes in her hands. It wasn't 10 p.m. yet, and still they could barely keep their eyes open, so she had left them with one pizza and stumbled her way to her room carrying her own pizza box. Phoebe had slipped under the covers with Ben after a couple of slices of pizza, mumbling what sounded like "wake me up if the place is on fire", and fallen asleep right away. Cole was sitting on the other side of the bed then, and he intended to finish his own pizza and follow her example, but right now he didn't quite remember having fallen asleep. He didn't remember having finished his pizza, either. Or put the pizza box aside, for all that mattered.

Cole's eyes snapped open as it dawned on him that he had been smelling anchovies and tomato sauce for a while then. He gasped in horror when he saw Ben sitting on the bed between him and Phoebe, laboriously spreading pizza topping all over the sheets.

"OH, CRAP!"

Cole was completely awake now; he sat up and reached out for Ben, and both his cry and the abrupt movement woke up Phoebe. She raised herself on her elbow and frowned, rubbing her eyes as she tried to focus on the scene before her.

"Cole, what... OH MY GOD!"

Oblivious to his parent's horrified looks, Ben gave them a big smile and said joyfully:

"Hi!"

"What happened?!?" Phoebe asked, sitting up and grimacing as she removed an anchovy from her hair.

"I think," Cole said as he scooped up his tomato sauce covered son, "that he woke up before we did, and couldn't find anything interesting to play with but the pizza."

Phoebe glared at him and he added, defensively:

"I don't know how it happened, Phoebe. I must've fallen asleep while I ate, last night: you know how tired we were."

Ben reached out to touch his father's unshaved face, giggling as he felt the roughness of the incipient beard, and leaving five red fingerprints on Cole's face.

"Give him to me," Phoebe sighed, "we need a shower." She gave Cole a critical look and added: "Actually, so do you."

Cole handed the boy to her and followed his wife and son to the bathroom, waving his head. Looking at the little ragamuffin cheerfully lilting in Phoebe's arms, though, he couldn't help but smile. Unlike his parents, Ben was a morning bird. The toddler gave Phoebe a curious look as she entered the shower, put him on the floor and started to undress him. He watched, intrigued, as Cole threw the filthy clothes Phoebe handed him into a plastic bag, and when Phoebe turned the showerhead on he happily ran to stand under the water.

"Thanks God he isn't having one of his..." -- Phoebe gave him a warning look and Cole spelled the forbidden word -- "N-O B-A-T-H days."

"He wouldn't dare," Phoebe muttered as she reached out for the soap. But she was smiling, too, softened -- as usual -- by the joyful exuberance of their little sticky, smelly, dangerously creative morning bird.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Two hours later, they were crossing the lobby towards the restaurant to meet Piper, Leo and Paige for breakfast.

"After seeing the look on the maid's face," Phoebe sighed, "I don't think we'll be accepted in this hotel ever again."

"If they didn't close the restaurant at such a ridiculously early time, we'd have had dinner down here, and none of that would've happened," Cole reasoned. He spotted the others in the corner of the room and waved briefly at them.

"Yeah, right." Phoebe said, while Cole leaded her towards the table. "Tell it to the person who's gonna clean that bed."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Over breakfast, Leo told them that he couldn't travel back home with them. The Elders had granted him a good night of sleep, but they had also told him that they wanted him up there first thing in the morning, ready to make a full report. Since she had entered her seventh month, Piper had started to feel uncomfortable driving long distances, so Phoebe and Cole offered to take turns driving her car; that way, Paige wouldn't have to drive all the way home.

After breakfast, they checked out and, after Leo found a private place from which he could orb out, the others headed towards the cars. The moment Ben saw the Buick, though, his cheerful mood went out the window.

"No!", he protested, when Cole opened the door, intending to place him on the baby chair.

"Oh, sweetie, I know it was a long way to get here, but this time we're heading home," Phoebe said, reaching out to touch his cheek. "You wanna go home, don't you?"

"No!", Ben repeated, vehemently, throwing his arms around daddy's neck and avoiding eye contact with mommy. The last time they had put him in the car, it had been like forever sitting there, and he had no intention of going through that again.

"No no no no no no..."

Phoebe let out a heavy sigh as she saw Ben hide his face on Cole's shoulder. She knew from experience that the toddler could go on like that for quite a long time, chanting the word like a mantra, and she was so not in the mood for that!...

"Ben..." she started.

"NO!" -- even though his face was still pressed against Cole's shoulder, Ben was loud enough to make a couple coming out of their own car turn around to look at them.

"Benjamin..." Cole said in a warning tone.

"No..." Ben whined, clinging harder to his father, and Cole and Phoebe exchanged a helpless look.

"Would you like me to orb him home?" Paige offered.

"No," Phoebe sighed. "You would have to stay home with him, and between Cole, Piper and me, it would take us like forever to get home. Honey," she pleaded, going around Cole and standing behind him, trying to make eye contact with Ben, "mommy wants so badly to go home now, let's get in the car. Mr. Floppy and Bobo are already there, waiting for you," she added, hoping that the mention of Ben's two favorite stuffed animals would soften him.

"No no no," Ben said, without raising his head, and Phoebe rested her own head on Cole's back, sighing in frustration.

"Ben," Cole said, suddenly having an inspiration, "do you wanna take off your shoes?"

Ben didn't answer, and Cole tugged lightly on one of his feet.

"Come on, buddy," he pursued, "what do you say? No shoes..."

Ben slightly raised his head and gave daddy a shy look. He liked "no shoes". He was always trying to get rid of his shoes, but mommy and daddy always ended up putting them back on. He didn't like shoes, and he didn't like socks -- which were, in his opinion, just shoes in disguise --, and he didn't like gloves, and hats... well, he had his "no hat" days and his "yes hat" days, but as for shoes, every day was a "no shoes" day.

Seizing the opportunity, Cole insisted:

"No shoes. You want 'no shoes', don't you?"

Ben raised his right foot and reached out for the offending shoe. Cole then caught the toddler's hand in his and said:

"In the car. No shoes."

Ben frowned and Phoebe, Piper and Paige held their breaths. He looked at the car, then back at Cole.

"In the car, no shoes," Cole said again, smiling. "Okay?"

Ben reached out and tugged with the collar of Cole's jacket, and Phoebe couldn't help but smile: he always tugged on things when he was deciding what to do. Finally, the toddler grinned at Cole and said:

"'Kay."

"That's my boy!" Cole said, victoriously, walking quickly towards the car, with Phoebe on his heels. "Paige, Piper, get in the car! You know his attention span is short! Come on, people, move!"

One year of parenthood had done wonders for Cole and Phoebe's team working skills: while he put Ben on his chair, she opened the door of the other side and quickly slipped in, carrying the baby bag. Then, as she fastened the straps of the baby seat, Cole closed the door, opened the driver's door and entered the car. By the time Phoebe had fastened her own seat belt, he was already turning the engine on, and when Piper honked the horn twice, signalizing that she and Paige were ready to go, the Turners were right behind them.

"Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo..."

As Ben started to hum to himself, moving his toes and watching them with great pleasure, Cole and Phoebe exchanged a smile through the rear-view mirror. She stretched her limbs, sighing in contentment.

"Hey! You're not gonna sleep, are you?" Cole asked, with a smile.

"No," she said, smiling back at him, "don't worry. I'm willing to enjoy a nice trip home, along with my two witches."

"Right," he said, his smile faltering slightly. "Baby, can we, uh... not use that word just yet?"

"I was wondering how much time it'd take for the whole thing to dawn on you and you start freaking out," she said, giggling.

"I'm not freaking out..." Cole protested. Phoebe gave him a knowing smile and he sighed: "Oh well, maybe a little."

"Oh, baby, there's nothing wrong with that," she said, reaching out to fondle his hair. "You're not the first one to react this way, you know."

"Did you?"

"Well, no," she admitted. "But I'm the exception that confirms the rule," she quickly added. "Piper completely freaked out, and so did Prue and Paige."

She handed Mr. Floppy to Ben, smiling as he went from "doo doo doo" to "ta ta ta" without as much as a pause to breath.

"But they came around, and so will you," Phoebe said softly as she rubbed Cole's shoulders.

"I hope you're right," he sighed.

"I'm always right."

Cole laughed heartedly and she slapped his shoulder, letting out a shriek of indignation. That earned her a reprimand from Mr. Floppy:

"No no no," said the stuffed bunny, nuzzling her cheek.

"This isn't fair!" Phoebe said, giggling. "I'm outnumbered by the boys! Pull over, I wanna go to the girls' car."

"Sorry, baby, but you're stuck with us," Cole said, chuckling. "This is the Turners' car, and all the Turners travel here."

"Witch," she teased him.

"Hey!"

"Witch, witch, witch!" she lilted, and Ben gladly joined her.

"Swish, swish, swish!" sang the toddler, making Mr. Floppy dance along with the tune.

"You're supposed to be on my side, young man!" Cole protested.

"Swish!"

"Shush, you people of the back seat!" Cole said with feign sternness.

"Swish, swish, swish, swish..."

While Ben and Mr. Floppy were busy singing their new song, Phoebe leaned forward and wrapped her warms around Cole's neck.

"If you find this subject unsettling," she said softly, "why don't you focus on other things for a while?"

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that your parents were happily married," she said, caressing his face. "That you were a much desired son, conceived with love."

"Yeah," he said, a smile lingering on his lips. "I was, wasn't I?"

"Yes," she said, smiling as her eyes met his on the rear-view mirror, "your father seemed pretty serious about that."

Cole gently squeezed the hand that was resting on his shoulder, savouring the thought. He wished he could remember the happy life his father had talked about, but it felt good just to know that it was there, somewhere in his past, the love and the trust in which he had been conceived. Also, the fact that his father still loved his mother, and that he didn't hold the disaster that had struck their family against her, had lifted a huge weight from his shoulders: he wasn't torn between two loyalties any more, finally free to love both his parents.

"Mama!" -- Ben's voice cut off his musings.

"I think someone's up for a song," Phoebe said with a smile, unwrapping her arms from around Cole's neck and turning her attention to Ben again.

Ben clapped his hands enthusiastically, showing her which song he wanted, and Cole prepared to hear several rounds of "If You're Happy And You Know It". Ben couldn't sing along, but he loved the gestures, and Phoebe sang it three times before he wanted to move on to "Itsy-Bitsy Spider". Only after the poor spider had gone up the water spout and been washed out by the rain for the umpteenth time could the "Five Little Monkeys" start jumping on the bed, and then the monkeys were replaced by "Two Little Black Birds Sitting on A Hill", and after Jack and Jill were gone it was time for "The Wheels of The Bus", which of course daddy had to perform along with them, and when Piper pulled over Cole didn't have to be asked twice to move to her car while Paige came drive the Buick for a while.