Retrospective

Cole brushed his hair and looked at the mirror. A year older the big 3-0. He retrieved his briefcase and walked out of the room. He went into the kitchen and was met by balloons and a banner.

"Happy Birthday!" cried Leo and Andy.

"What's so happy about it?" asked Cole grumpily.

Leo and Andy frowned. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed"

Cole collected his coffee. "It's just that I'm thirty and had more failed relationships than body parts. I don't have a steady girlfriend or marriage, or kids"

"Neither do I" said Andy. "Or Leo"

"That makes me feel better" said Cole rolling his eyes.

"Cheer up" said Leo. "You're the best lawyer on the West Coast"

"Still working a dead end job" muttered Andy.

"At least I have one" said Cole shrugging.

Andy sneered. "As a matter a fact I'm trying out for the new bartender down at Quake"

"Good luck" said Cole walking out.

***Lunch***

"Turner why are you so down?" asked George his co-worker. "I'm 45 with two kids and a wife and I feel so young"

"Right you have a wife and kids" said Cole. "I'm working a dead end job, and living in my childhood home with my two younger brothers"

George laughed. "We better get back to work"

He waved to the waitress for the check.

"I mean I wish I could get younger instead of older" said Cole as the waitress put down the check. She winked at Cole and walked away.

"Future wife?" asked George watching the waitress go.

"No" said Cole. "More like future ex"

***Home later that night***

Cole walked inside the manor and was met with a loud.

"SURPRISE!"

Cole smiled as a huge cake was brought into the living room as his friends stood there. Leo and Andy patted his back. Prue stood there with a short black dress.

"Whoa Prue" said Cole. "Is that the tomboy I remember?"

"Shut it Turner" said Prue as she hugged him.

"Happy Birthday bro" said Leo as he ruffled Cole's dark brown hair.

Cole pushed Leo's hand away.

"Yeah thanks" said Cole. "Who's idea was this?"

"His" said Leo and Andy at the same time while pointing at eachother.

Cole smiled and shook his head. "Well let me take a shower"

Cole walked upstairs and walked into his room. He shut the door and went into his drawer he got out some clothes and shut it. He placed the clothes on the bed and then got on his knees. He reached under the bed and retrieved a lock box. He pulled the key from under his pillow and opened the box. There were different documents. His birth certificate, important paper and newspaper clippings. He pulled out one of them. It was an obituary with a picture of his mother.

Patricia Turner

Born April 5, 1950 Died February 28, 1980

Cole sighed. His mother died when she was thirty. He was scared. He was so new at this witch thing and his mother was a pro and she died. He was scared he wasn't going to make it to 31. Cole sighed and slammed the lock box shut and went to take his shower.

***Later that night***

A chorus of the happy birthday was sung and Cole was cutting the cake.

"Cole how about you dance this slow one with me?" asked Prue.

Andy looked up with a mouth full of cake in his mouth.

Prue led Cole to the living room and they both moved with grace.

"It's the Prom Queen and King all over again" said Leo smiling and shaking his head.

Andy swallowed his cake and took a drink full of punch.

"Yeah whatever" he grumbled as he went to check the mail. He and Leo were too busy getting the party together.

"Thanks everyone for coming" said Cole loudly as it hit 10pm. "Thanks for the gifts and have a safe trip home"

Cole shook people's hands as they left. Andy came back with the mail as Prue was bagging up the trash.

"Cole this is for you" said Andy.

Leo was sitting on the couch.

"It looks like a card" said Cole. "No return address"

"Read it" said Leo.

Cole opened it and then read the card. His face darkened and a vase that was sitting on the mantle violently flew off and crashes to the floor.

"Whoa" cried Prue.

Leo stood up as Cole ripped up the card, handed Andy the three hundred dollars that it contained and tossed the card into the fire.

Cole went upstairs angrily.

"What was that all about?" asked Prue as Andy swept up the glass.

"It was probably from Victor" said Leo sighing.

"Oh" said Prue. Ever since she was four she spent her time in the Turner home. She lived through their pain and tragedy. They lived through hers. Victor was Cole, Leo, and Andy's deadbeat father. He left when Cole was six and witnessed Victor pushing his mother against the wall then throwing her to the floor. Then Victor left for good. Cole never forgot or forgiven what he did.

Leo took the money out of Andy's hand.

"We don't need his money either" he said throwing that into the fire.

"We need all the money we can get" said Andy.

Leo sighed. "Well get a job"

Prue smiled and Andy glared at Leo.

***Next Day***

Cole woke up slowly. He was having a whopper of a headache. Did he drink too much? He read the clock. It was 11:25 am. He never slept that late. Cole sat up and rubbed his eyes then he climbed out of bed and groggily walked to the bathroom. He shut the door and turned on the shower. There he looked in the mirror and.

Leo dropped his cup of coffee and ran upstairs to where he heard someone scream. He pounded on the door.

"Cole!" called Leo.

Cole flipped open the door.

"Oh my God!!" said Leo.

Cole looked 16 years old. He was a good 5'8, his head was full of curls and was in desperate need of a haircut, his body was thinner.

"Cole is that you?" asked Leo.

"No it's the toothfairy" snapped Cole angrily. "What the hell was in that vodka last night?"

"This is serious" said Leo poking Cole.

"Stop that" said Cole. "Look call Andy this is probably just a dream or maybe he did a spell"

"Alright he went to get some milk" said Leo.

As if on cue Andy ran in the house. "I got the bartending job"

"Andy get up here" said Leo.

"What's up?" asked Andy coming up.

He saw Cole. "What's with the kid?"

"The kid is Cole" said Cole angrily.

"OH yeah" said Andy. He shook his head twice. "COLE"

Cole threw his hands at his side.

"This might be something supernatural" said Leo.

"Wait nothing fell over" said Andy.

"What are you jammering about?" asked Cole.

"When you get angry something usually falls or a door slams" said Andy. "Since you don't have complete control over your powers but nothing happened. Try and use your powers"

Cole motioned to his bedroom door and nothing happened.

"Great he has no powers" said Leo. "What if a demon comes?"

"I don't care!" screamed Cole. He didn't like this situation and he certainly didn't like his brothers being older than him.

"Maybe there's some of your old clothes upstairs" said Leo indicating Cole's baggy pajama pants.

Cole angrily went to the attic. Leo and Andy followed him shrugging.

"Did you get attacked by a demon?" asked Leo looking through the book.

"No" said Cole pulling out his old pair of jeans and a black shirt.

"Ok well tell us what you did yesterday" said Andy. "Besides whine about yourself getting older"

"Well I went to work then I went to lunch where I told George about my insecurities" said Cole. "That's it"

"Maybe George is a demon?" said Andy.

Cole glared at him.

"Or not?"

"Wait the waitress" said Cole. "I was getting bad vibes off of her. She winked at me"

"It's called flirting" said Andy rolling his eyes.

"You are so lucky I don't have my powers right now" said Cole crossing his arms.

"Fine we go find the flirtatious waitress and question her" said Leo.

"It was at the diner two blocks from my job" said Cole.

"Leo and I will go" said Andy.

"Wait we can't leave him here" said Leo. "He can stay in the car"

"I'm going to confront who did this to me" said Cole.

"We'll talk in the car come one" said Leo.

***Diner***

Cole stayed in the car as Leo and Andy walked in the diner. The waitress' name was Janet. Leo walked up to a waiter.

"Hello is a Janet working here?" asked Leo.

"No" said the waiter wiping down the counter.

"We sorta need to talk to her" said Andy.

"Are you the cops?" asked the waiter.

"No" said Leo. "But she may have done something to our brother"

"Really" said the waiter. "Well she's off today"

"Does she have a last name?" asked Leo.

The waiter shrugged.

Leo took out his wallet and pulled out a fifty.

"Now does she have a last name?" asked Leo.

"Simmons" said the waiter. "And I didn't tell ya"

"Ok thanks" said Andy.

Leo and Andy walked back to the car where Cole was sitting in the car with the radio blasting but that wasn't what was so shocking to the two brothers. He looked 7 years old.

"Damn" whispered Andy shockingly.

"We better find that waitress" said Leo getting in the car. He tapped Cole's hand from the radio and shut it off.

"Hey!" cried Cole.

Leo pulled a mirror from the glove compartment and handed it to Cole. A loud shriek filled the car.

"It's not that serious" said Andy annoyed. "Shut up"

"Andy it is that serious" said Cole. "I'm getting younger just like I wished"

"Wait you wished?" asked Andy.

"Yeah" said Cole. "It was absently"

"Maybe she's a genie" said Andy.

"I didn't rub any damn bottles" said Cole angrily.

"Hey watch your mouth young man" said Leo. "and Andy go look up her address"

Andy walked out of the car.

"Cole it's going to be okay" said Leo.

"I'm hungry let's stop at McDonald's" said Cole.

Leo sighed. "We don't have time for that"

"I'm hungry" said Cole stubbornly.

Andy returned with a piece of the phonebook page.

"You couldn't memorize that?" asked Leo pulling out of the parking lot.

Andy shrugged. "Let's just hurry up I have to get to work soon"

"We have to make a quick stop" said Leo.

***Later that afternoon***

"Here's the apartment" said Andy.

Cole was eating a happy meal. He bit into his cheeseburger.

"Go on" he said with a mouth full of fries.

"Stop stuffing your mouth" said Leo. "You're coming with us before you get any younger"

Leo took Cole's toy from his hand and the little boy glared at him coldly.

"Cole we really don't have time for this" said Leo.

Andy got out of the car.

"We need you to identify her" said Leo. Cole got out of the car as did Leo and they walked inside the apartment complex.

Andy read the list of names. "She's in apartment 220"

They walked to the elevator and stepped inside.

"Nice place for a waitress" said Andy.

"Well can we hurry this up I'm not getting any older" said Cole annoyed.

"Would you just calm down" said Andy. "I didn't know you were this hyped when you were seven"

The elevator stopped and they stepped off. A woman with brown hair and green eyes wearing a short black miniskirt and a tight black shirt passed by Cole. He turned and looked after her. Leo noticing Cole was walking with them turned around. Leo pulled his older.younger.whatever. He pulled his brother and shook his head.

"Or that horny" added Andy.

"Curiosity" said Cole as they stopped in front of the apartment door.

Andy knocked twice.

"You know if you didn't complain so much non of this wouldn't have happened" said Andy.

"I don't complain all the time" said Cole.

"Yes you do" said Andy. "You nag, you complain"

"Yeah cause I never had the chance to do it when I was too busy taking care of you two!" cried Cole.

Leo stepped in front of the little one and Andy. Andy blinked twice and leaned against the wall as Cole crossed his arm and also leaned against the wall.

Leo shook his head as he knocked on the door again. He was always the referee between his oldest and youngest. Obviously Andy was sorta bruised with the comment and obviously Cole was holding it in. It didn't really bother Leo for he knew how hard Cole had it. Cole barely made it through college with two jobs and helping Grams around the house.

Too much drinking and partying. He had to go to counseling for alcohol abuse. Leo had to be there for Cole to support him and he had to be there for Andy. Andy didn't remember his mother or his father. He barely did too, but he wondered if it was worse not knowing her or knowing her and having her die. Leo was shook out of his thoughts as an older man walked towards them.

"Is Janet Simmons here?" asked Leo.

"Janet Simmons" he muttered as he was thinking. "No not anymore she left last night"

"As in moved out?" asked Cole.

"That's right" said the old man.

"Do you know where she went?" asked Andy.

"nope" said the old man as he walked away.

"Let's get back to the book" said Leo.

The three brothers left.

***The Manor***

Cole plopped down in front of the tv and put it on cartoons. Leo and Andy went upstairs.

"You know what Cole said it didn't come out."

"Leave it alone Leo" said Andy. "I'm fine it's not like he said anything wrong"

Leo nodded and they walked over to the book.

"We need some help" muttered Leo.

Suddenly the book opened on it's own and flipped to a page.

"Whoa" said Leo stepping back. "Did you do that?"

"No" said Andy. "Look scrying"

"Scrying is a form of tracking" said Leo. "Tie something that relates to whatever you are looking for then hold a crystal or an object over a map and it will direct you"

"Do we have anything that relates to her?" asked Andy.

"A receipt" said Leo.

"Probably" said Andy. "Let's ask Cole"

The brothers called loudly for their brother.

"Where did he go?" asked Leo. "I'll get him"

Leo left the attic and Andy sat on an old trunk. He wasn't at all bothered by his brother's comment it was the pain behind the small voice that urked him. IT was like Cole regretted everything. Maybe it was true maybe it wasn't but a scream from downstairs had Andy running downstairs to the living room.

"Oh my" said Andy looking at what or whom Leo was holding.

Cole now looked four months old. His curly hair was sticking out and his eyes were brighter. Cole looked at Andy and gurgled.

"Grams did say Cole drooled a lot" said Leo as he looked at Cole.

"He's going to fade into nothing if we don't hurry up" said Andy.

Cole started crying.

Leo frowned. "Look I should run to a store and get some diapers and a bottle"

He started to hand Cole to Andy. Andy stepped back.

"I'm not babysitting"

"There's no car seat" said Leo. "Take him we don't have time and look for the receipt"

Andy took baby Cole and he smiled. Cole was actually cute though he would never say the words out loud. Baby Cole rested his head against Andy's shoulder as Leo ran off to the corner market.

Baby grabbed a handful of Andy's shirt and tugged.

"What is it?" asked Andy looking at Cole.

Baby Cole pointed up.

"Right let's find that receipt" said Andy.

Andy carried Baby Cole upstairs.

***Five minutes later**

Leo came upstairs with two diapers in his hand and a bottle full of formula.

"That was fast" said Andy.

"That's the closest I've seen you two" mocked Leo.

"Shut up Leo" said Andy.

"Watch the mouth around the little one" said Leo.

Andy laughed as Cole frowned at Leo.

"Apparently he understands you" said Andy as he retrieved the receipt.

"You scry" said Leo taking baby Cole. "and I put a diaper on him and feed him"

"Alright" said Andy as he went to the attic.

***An hour later***

Andy was in the passenger seat holding baby Cole who's head was on his should and he was sleeping. Andy had a washcloth draped under Cole's head in case he drooled or threw up.

Leo parked in front of a small office.

"A psychic" said Leo.

Leo climbed out of the car and Andy with a little trouble climbed careful not to wake the sleeping baby up.

Leo and Andy knocked on the door. It was almost eight at night. A woman about in her mid-forties wearing a red robe answered the door.

"Yes what is it?" she asked softly.

"We have reason to believe a Janet Simmons is here" said Andy. "She did something to our brother"

The woman sighed. "Would that be your brother?"

She indicated baby Cole. Andy held him protectively.

"How did you know?" asked Leo.

The woman opened the door further.

"My name is Rachel" said Rachel. "And Janet is my daughter. Now your brother must've made a wish"

"It was his thirtieth birthday" said Leo. "He wished he could be younger"

"Thirty!" exclaimed the woman. "I thought he was like 50"

"Our brother has insecurities" said Andy.

"And you three must be witches" said Rachel. "That's why you're reacting so coolly to this"

"Yeah" said Leo.

"Well here I'll reverse the effects since Janet is not here" said Rachel. "And she won't be till tomorrow which by then will be too late"

Rachel went to her cupboard and pulled out a purple liquid.

"Have him drink this and he'll be fine tomorrow" said Rachel.

"Thanks" said Andy.

Leo took it and they left.

***Next morning***

Leo, and Andy has slept on either side of baby Cole last night to keep him protected.

Now the three of them full ,grown and their respective ages slept there softly snoring. Three brothers who were protectors of the innocent and have issues to work out.