Thanks very much for the reviews. Here is the next chapter. Hope you'll
enjoy it. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 5. The Will.
Next morning Cole woke up really early and caught himself smiling once again. He slept well, he did not have a hangover and he had had a nice time last night. Cole liked Nicole. She was beautiful, intelligent, easy to get on with and had almost an unbelievable sense of tact. She could have been perfect for a one-night stand or even a short fling. However, they would probably have to spend a lot of time together while he'd trained her and therefore a short fling was not an option. He did not want to get too close to any woman right now. He was not ready for a relationship and especially, one where magic was involved. Therefore extra caution would be useful. Yesterday he had a nice evening and it would be for the best to leave it at that.
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Morning in Halliwell Manor was unusually quiet. Paige came late from her date. Piper and Leo enjoyed a rare lie-in free from charges, sisters and demons. Phoebe was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Seeing Cole yesterday brought back memories, feelings-everything. And seeing him with this tall, blonde miss Catwalk brought something Phoebe never felt before: jealousy. She could lie to Cole, to her sisters, to Jason, but she could not lie to herself. The thought of another woman next to Cole bothered her. She did not want him back but she also did not want him to find somebody else. Anyway he was too dangerous for any woman. This miss Catwalk did not deserve to be with him... Meaning that he could hurt her, right? She was an innocent in this situation. "Innocent?" Phoebe smirked. Sometimes one word can be a paradox in itself.
When Phoebe got downstairs an hour later she was already late for work. The whole family gathered around the table enjoying pancakes, which Piper'd made. She grabbed a cup of coffee on the table and was searching for her keys.
"How was your date with Jason?" Paige asked.
"It went well."
"So why were you home so early," Piper frowned.
"Because," Phoebe sighed, "he had an early meeting today so we decided to cut it short."
"Oh, honey, I am sorry."
"Don't be." All morning Phoebe was deliberating whether she should tell her sisters about Cole and this girl. She did not want to discuss the situation but then the girl was an innocent. "I bumped into Cole yesterday. It was an accident, for what I can say." She answered the question, which was clearly on everybody's mind. "He was at the same restaurant as Jason took me and," she paused, "and he was not alone. He had a girl with him and they left about 10 minutes after we came in."
"So," Paige commented dryly, "it did not take him long after your divorce, did it?"
"Paige," Piper seared her younger sister with a glare. Phoebe felt that the knot, which formed in her stomach when she saw Cole with this girl in the restaurant, has just become tighter.
"Well, it's good isn't it?" Paige continued, "if he does move on and leave Phoebe alone that would be the best thing he's done in a long time."
"Paige," this time it was Leo, trying to restrain the blunt tongue of the youngest Halliwell. He noticed that Phoebe stiffened and wished for the two things he'd been wishing for for the past six months: first, that Cole Turner would have never entered their lives and second, that Paige would learn to think before she opened her mouth.
"No, Paige is right. If he honestly moved on, I would be very happy." "God, how lame do I sound. "- Phoebe took a deep breath and said in a more normal voice. "It's just, I am worried about this girl. She is an innocent and with the powers Cole has now, I don't know what is on his mind. I am worried she'll get hurt." –Her family looked at her suspiciously.
"Honey, is this the only reason, why you are so upset," Piper asked attentively.
"What other reason would I have, Piper. Oh, I am sorry I forgot, I have divorced my husband just a week ago. Oh, no, I did not forget and you know why, because my family reminds me about it every 5 minutes."
Uneasy silence followed her outburst. Then Piper spoke up, "We're sorry, Phoebe. We're just worried about you."
"I know, you are worried but may be all of you would try to understand that I am trying really hard to get on with my life. And if I could I would not speak about Cole ever again in my life. But our destiny is to protect the innocents and Cole is a threat to them. And if this means talking about Cole then I will talk about him because protecting the innocents is the most important thing of my life, to which I have sacrificed my sister, my marriage and my child. And now I am going to work and you, Leo," she looked at him, "go and check with the Elders if they heard anything about Cole." She snapped the keys from the hook and left.
The kitchen fell into silence. Then Paige spoke up, "I have a bad feeling about it all."
"So am I," echoed Piper.
"She is not over him, not at all."
At this Leo interrupted, "Look, guys, there is a truth in what she said. Cole is dangerous and we should do something about it."
"Do what, Leo? We can't kill him - we tried, it did not work. We can't stop him dating-he's a free man."
"We can keep an eye on him," - piped Paige.
"What? Spy on him? And how do you propose to do that?"
"We can look for a spell, which will make us invisible and another one to tie our scrying crystal that it will always locate Cole and Leo or me can orb there on on/off basis and check up on what he's up to."
"For this we don't need a crystal, Cole is always either in his penthouse or at Carter, Jackman and Kline."
"Yes, but yesterday he was not there. He was in the restaurant."
"You can't orb into the restaurant."
"Yes, but you can orb outside and then walk in. I think it is something to think about. I am going to check the BOS if there is anything useful."
"Fine," agreed Piper. "But what shall we do with Phoebe?"
Leo shrugged his shoulders, "I don't think there is much we can do. She has to do it herself. We just have to be there for her and hope that time will cure her wounds."
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Cole picked Nicole up at her hotel half an hour before the funeral. They got stuck in traffic and made it just in time. The ceremony took place in the chapel of the XXX cemetery. The priest stood at the entrance of the church, next to him Nicole recognised Eric Sally, who allowed himself a small smile to greet them. He said something to the priest, who looked at newcomers with calm and sober eyes. "Miss Berg, Mr Turner, I am farther Cedric. Please come in. The ceremony is about to start. Please proceed to the front, relatives sit on the front bench."
"Thank you," Nicole nodded and entered the church. It was full with people. She could feel everybody's eyes on her. She heard father Cedric behind her. "Mr. Turner, I hope you'll accompany Miss Berg."
"Sure," -Cole followed her steps and sat down next to her. Nicole still could feel the eyes of the whole church on her but now it seemed less disturbing. The presence of Cole next to her made it more bearable. She felt uneasy. She did not know her uncle. She had vague memories of him from her early childhood more like feelings of warmth and strength that surrounded him. During the trying years following her father's death these memories were sometimes the only things, which helped her not to give up. She used to dream about him coming and saving her and sometimes she felt as if he was there telling her that things will get better. Nicole dreamt about her uncle like teenage girls usually dream about a knight in shining armour. And for Nicole he was her Knight.
When she got to University she spent 2 months trying to find his address and in the end she managed. She wrote to him so many times, begging him to come to England, telling him that she wanted to get to know him. He never answered. And Nicole spent an anxious 6 months waiting for his reply: hoping, wishing and cursing. Then she made a last attempt and phoned him. She left a message on the answering machine and was again waiting. He never called back and next time she called the automatic voice told her that the number did not exist. It was a clear sign that her uncle wanted nothing to do with her. Nicole cried for two days, got absolutely drunk and then decided to get on with her life. She told herself that she would not waste her life on somebody who did not care about her. She'd forbidden herself to dream about her uncle and vowed never to offer her love again. William Schwarzlight did not exist for her anymore. She managed to stick to her decision. She was good in managing things. When she heard the news about his death 5 days ago, she felt strange. Everything seemed so unreal so many things were happening, so she just went with the flow. Now when she sat in the church listening to the ceremony the truth hit her. Her uncle died, she would never be able to meet him, talk to him, ask him all those question. The resentment of the last 10 years disappeared and her true feelings surfaced when she realized the depth of her loss. She was attending the funeral of the only person who was dear to her.
Next to her Cole was musing about how normal this ceremony seemed. It was reserved and traditional, there were no speeches. A couple of times he shot a quick glance at Nicole, she was very pale and her face was a little strained but in general she was holding well. To tell the truth Cole was unsure about her. She seemed to be attached to her Uncle but at the same time she did not know him. When the ceremony was finished she stood firmly next to farther Cedric and accepted condolences from the mourners. After everyone else except them left father Cedric turned to Nicole and Cole. "According to Mr Schwarzlight's wishes nobody except the family members is going to be allowed into the mausoleum. If you would like to follow me I'll show you. And you too Mr. Turner."
Cole looked at him surprise. "I am not a family member."
"Well," father Cedric smiled but his eyes bored into Cole like two swirls, "you almost are." He swept past them and marched out of the church. Nicole and Cole had to hurry up to catch up with him. Cole expected a questioning comment but Nicole kept quiet and just followed the priest.
The mausoleum was on the other side of the lawn. It reminded Cole of his family mausoleum, but this one was much bigger. It was quite dark inside in spite of hundreds of candles lighting the building. When his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness he could see 13 parlours along one wall of the mausoleum. In the middle there was a twin tomb. It seemed that the coffin was already place in the tomb. The priest took a piece of paper out of his robes and said. "It's a family tradition to read a poem, chosen by the late family member." He turned to Nicole. "You might remember it from your father's funeral."
"Yes," Nicole was very pale and her voice shattered a bit. She took a deep breath and continued in more steady voice. "Yes, I remember. But I don't remember the words. I've never seen a copy."
"Well, your uncle picked this one. There are three parts, one for each of us. If it's all right with you I will start, Mr Turner will go second and, you, Nicole will finish."
Father Cedric took a deep breath and started to read. It was a beautiful poem, talking about coming back to the roots and joining the others, who'd been before. It was Cole's turn to read when he started to have a strange feeling that it reminded him about something he heard before. It was Nicole's turn, her voice was quiet and sounded even more husky than usual and then it dawned on Cole. It was a power-unbinding spell. A very strange one and complicated but it was an unbinding spell. He remembered it from the time when the Charmed ones used it on Paige. Though the spell of the Charmed ones was much shorter and easier, the essence was the same. Cole wanted to say something but then he caught the eyes of the priest. The latter almost invisibly shook his head and Cole stayed quiet. Suddenly Nicole gasped and stumbled back. In order not to fall she touched the left tomb but immediately pulled away with an even louder cry. Cole rushed to her and before he could catch her, his left shoulder touched the late Lugel's tomb. Cole felt how a stream of wind rushed through his body and a strong pain made him double in half. The next moment the feeling disappeared and Cole managed to catch Nicole just before she hit the floor. "Nicole, are you OK?"
Nicole could feel Cole's hand around her waist; she opened her eyes and saw a worried look on his face. "I... I am fine." Her voice reminded more of a whisper. He helped her to her feet. "It must be a muscle cramp from stress."
Cole did not say anything. But he perfectly well knew what happened. Nicole's powers got unbound. He looked at the priest but the latter's expression was unreadable.
"You should get some fresh air, Nicole. Anyway, the ceremony is now over. It's time for all of us to turn to our other duties. I have to return to my congregation and you, I believe, have a path to follow." Cole could feel the priest's eyes focused on him. "Good day." Father Cedric turned around and led them out of the mausoleum.
After leaving the cemetery Cole and Nicole headed straight to the offices of Sly&Sally. Both were very quiet. Cole was trying to come up with a plan how to explain everything to Nicole. She was deep in her own private thoughts. She felt strange, as if something inside her became awake. Nicole had a slight feeling of uneasiness and thought that it was caused by the stress of the last week and tiredness. Since arriving to the States Nicole did not have a single restful night of sleep. She constantly dreamt about fire, hell, angels: people she never met and places she's never seen. When they arrived to the offices they were immediately lead to the office of Eric Sally. He greeted them very seriously and proceeded straight away. "I am really glad that both of you could attend the funeral. Now as the first condition of Mr. Schwarzlight's will has been fulfilled we can proceed with the rest. Mr. Schwarzlight named two people as his heirs: his niece Nicole Berg and his friend Cole Turner. For the last 25 years William Schwarzlight was a guardian of his brother's fortune, which was trusted to him after the latter's demise. Both brothers were very wealthy. They were owners of the BalFor Holdings each holding 7.6% of shares. This percentage is equivalent to approximately 20 billion. All the shareholders are also board members of the company. The shares of the holdings company cannot be sold; they can only be transferred to the next board member. When a new board member joins the company he immediately received a personal wealth of 500 million dollars, which increases with each year spent on the board. According to my client's will Nicole will inherit the share formerly belonging to her father. You, Mr. Turner will inherit the share belonging to Mr. Schwarzlight himself. In order to receive the inheritance you both have to start working full time for BalFor Holdings or one of their subsidiaries and become board members. You are required to leave your current jobs and reside within the USA. Mr. Schwarzlight had his own personal wealth, mostly in real estate, estimated at 20 million dollars: these include houses in San Francisco, Cote d'Azure, penthouses in London, Paris, Sydney and Vancouver; and a villa in Sicily. All of those will be passed to you, Nicole. You Mr. Turner will inherit the villa in Carmel. I believe that in the past it belonged to your father's family?!"
Both Cole and Nicole had been seating with their mouths open from the moment they heard the sum of 20 billion dollars so the former only managed a confused nod. This was beyond anything he could imagine in his wild dreams or nightmares. Cole was not sure which this one was going to be. Last night after dropping off Nicole he spent hours trying to find out why he was mentioned in the late Lugel's will. It was obvious to him that William Schwarzlight was trying to tie him in. But why? Cole gave him a word and was not planning to get back on it firstly because it was not his style and secondly because he was not suicidal. Nobody in their right mind would break a word given to a Lugel, even if said Lugel was dead. If William Schwarzlight left him just money Cole would not be very concerned. In all his life Cole never had financial problems. It came with being a demon and a lawyer. Of course half a billion dollars or personal wealth still meant something to him. Much more worrying were the shares in BalFor Holdings and the demand to start working for it. Cole searched his memory but could not remember ever hearing about this company either in the demonic world or in the mortal one. Experience taught Cole to be wary of things he could not understand. But what made Cole even more nervous was the villa in Carmel. It was a summer home belonging to his father's family. For some reason from all his childhood Cole remembered this villa the best. While working for the brotherhood undercover in one of his Upperworld missions he visited it. The villa was occupied. Cole could hear the children screaming and shouting playing some kind of game. He stood there for a couple of minutes and then left. At a time he told himself that he did not like the place anymore but now he could admit that it was painful to be their and it disturbed something in his human side that upper level demon Belthazor could not afford. When he was with Phoebe he thought about buying the place for him and Phoebe but then realized that Phoebe would never want to live there. There was no point owning the place if he was never going to be there. The fact that old Lugel gave him this place meant that he knew about Cole's past, that he took a trouble to check every little detail. And that made half demon apprehensive. He heard enough about Lugels to know that they did not waste time on unimportant things. The voice of Eric Sally snapped Cole out of his thoughts.
"Any questions so far?"
"Just one," Cole muttered silently, "what the hell is all this about. But then I doubt you have the answer." Cole shot a look at Nicole, and immediately wished he did not. Two emerald eyes were as hard as rock and regarded with a mixture of anger and derision.
"Yes," she said turning to Eric Sally, "I have one. When did my uncle write this will?"
If the lawyer was surprised by this question he did not show it. "Mr Schwarzlight had a will for the last 20 years. He did introduce some changes about a month ago but I am afraid I am not at liberty to tell you which ones."
Cole knew perfectly well which changes were introduced just a month ago, but he was not about to voice his thoughts. He could feel Nicole staring at him and in spite of her calm exterior he was convinced that she was fuming inside so it was best not to push her further. He did not fancy having a young Lugel loosing her control especially since her powers were just unbound.
"Any more questions?" Eric asked. Cole just shook his head and Nicole made a gesture offering the lawyer to continue. "Well," the partner returned his gaze to his paperwork, "this is basically all main points of the will. I only have to inform you that you have 48 hours to accept the conditions."
"48 hours?" Nicole was genuinely surprised. "Isn't it a little to short for such a decision?"
"It's a condition of the will," Eric Sally replied softly, "I am afraid that you will have to comply with this." Cole knew very well why this deadline was set. During the first 48 hours Nicole's powers could be bound again. And Lugels did not want to risk having somebody so powerful walking around if she was not going to accept her destiny with them. The young woman just shook her head and did not say anything. Eric Sally continued, "While you are deciding I am authorised to give Nicole keys to your uncle's house. You are very welcome to stay there. I also believe that your uncle has left you few items in the house, which as he put it would help you to make the right decision." He handed Nicole a set of keys. "If you don't have any other questions, then I am sure you would like to see the house. I'll be looking forward to hearing your decision and very much hope that you are going to make the right one."
Cole and Nicole got up and left. All the way down in the lift Cole was aware of the young woman staring at him but she did not say anything since the building was very busy. But the moment they got into the car and Cole drove off, Nicole turned to him and asked in sarcastic tone. "Okay, Mr Turner, spill it out, who are you? Uncle Will's illegitimate son or long lost brother of mine?"
This was so far from the truth that Cole could not help but laugh.
"Do you think it's funny?" Nicole glared at him, "what am I supposed to think? You lied to me! You told me that you just met my uncle less than 2 moths ago. People don't leave twenty billion dollars to somebody they hardly know."
"I did not lie to you," Cole retorted, "it's the absolute truth that I met you uncle one and a half months ago and I am not his or your relative. I was as surprised as you to find out about this inheritance."
"I don't believe you," she shot. "If you are not a relative then why did you inherit all this? We got basically equal shares. I am not even sure why I got all of this, but you?"
Cole paused for a minute. He did not know how to explain Nicole the whole thing but he was absolutely convinced that a car driving at the speed of 70 miles an hour was not the right place for a long story. So he tried to say as little as possible. "I think your uncle had his own reasons. May be he wanted to tie me in this BalFor Holdings."
"Oh, really? Come on Cole, you promised that a lot of things were going to become clearer after the announcement of the will. If anything they got even more confusing. Why all these restrictions? How the hell are we expected to take a decision to change our lives in 2 days?! Why do we have to start working for that corporation? I am not an executive and neither are you. We are too young and inexperienced to seat on the board of the multi billion dollar company. And don't pretend that you have no idea what's going on! Because you do and I know it. Tell me the truth; I think I deserve to know."
Cole hesitated for a moment, then he sighed and gave up. "Look, what I told you is the truth. I did meet your uncle less then 2 months ago. And I did not know that I would be even mentioned in his will till yesterday. And of course I did not expect to inherit all this."
"Yeah, yeah," Nicole interrupted, "I heard all of that before and you have no idea why you got it."
"I did not say that. I don't know it for sure but I have some ideas." Cole paused and then spoke up slowly trying to find the right words. "Your uncle was part of a very influential and powerful clan. This clan is in charge of protecting a group of people, who have very unusual abilities from the rest of the population. And I am one of this group and so are you but you don't know about it. He wanted me to help you to adjust to the changes in your life. He might have other plans as well but I don't know about them. All I promised was to help you, protect you and train you." Nicole looked at him as if he was mad. Cole sighed and continued. "I know that it sounds really strange but it's the truth. I don't want to go into the details now because I am hoping that your uncle left something in his house, which could help me to explain things and you to understand them. And all I am asking of you is a bit more patience and I promise I will explain everything when we get to your uncles house.
Nicole looked at him suspiciously, then sighed and turned her head away. "This is just unbelievable," she uttered, "absolutely unbelievable," she made an annoyed gesture with her hand and suddenly Cole saw a massive energy ball flying from her palm and straight into the engine. Acting by the instinct Cole let the stirring will go, grabbed Nicole's hand and blurred into the penthouse. They materialized in his living room. Cole quickly checked if Nicole was unharmed. He was not sure if she was invincible yet. But she seemed to be physically fine. She looked at Cole, her eyes filled with fear and hoarsely asked, "What was it?" her voice was mere a whisper. She looked at her palm with horror, "How did I do that?"
"You conjured an energy ball," he answered softly. "This is one of your powers and mine." He opened his palm and Nicole saw a small glowing sphere on it. She shrieked and backed away. Cole closed his palm and the sphere disappeared. "Look," he continued "when I talked about the group of people with unusual abilities, I meant magic people. A bit like Harry Potter. But Harry Potter books talk only about one type of magic, which is wizardian, it is the weakest type. Everything, which you thought were fairy tails does exist: witches, demons, vampires, warlocks. Your uncle belonged to Lugels. They stand above good and evil and their task is to protect the magic world from the non-magic people and preserve the balance between good and evil. You are half Lugel. You have enormous powers: energy balls are just a tiny part."
"And you?" she asked, "you are a Lugel as well?"
"No," he shook his head, "I am a half demon. My farther was mortal, like your mother, and my mother was a demon. I have her powers."
Nicole looked at him with disbelief and then asked, "How did we get here?"
He smiled, "Oh, that was easy. I blurred."
"Blurred? What that?"
"It's like instantaneous moving in space and in dimensions."
Nicole's face was worthy of a picture, there was such mixture of feelings written on it. She shook her head and looked at Cole, "You're mad. This is mad. Blurring? Energy balls? You'll say I can move things in space as well?!"
Cole smiled. "Of course you can, it's called telekinesis."
Nicole laughed. "Of course, telekinesis. How simple. I just wave my hand and things will fly into the walls. Like this." Nicole swayed her hand into Cole's direction and he was flung into the wall together with the bottle of whisky standing on the table behind him. Cole hit the wall and slid on the coach. The bottle collided with the painting on the wall and the glass shuttered into a million of pieces spraying Cole with a shower of little daggers. "Oh, God," Nicole gasped and ran to him, "I am so sorry. Are you Okay? Did I hurt you? Cole, please, say something."
Cole opened his eyes and smiled at her, "You have a hell of a power," his voice sounded a bit rough. "I don't envy the poor sole, who will be on the receiving end of it. Can tell from my own experience," he smiled and casually waved his hand at the splinters of glass around him.
Nicole looked with awe as the bottle and the painting resumed their previous positions as if they never came in touch with each other. She looked back at Cole and her hand reached the back of his head. "You don't even have a bump."
"I don't get bumps," he pulled away from her hand. "It's another type of powers." At this moment Cole's mobile rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Cole Turner."
"Good evening, Mr Turner," said low female voice with distinct French accent. "Just want to let you know that a visitor just arrived on your balcony." Cole jerked his head to the balcony but it was empty.
"I think you are mistaken." He answered coldly.
"I suggest you use your vision better, Mr Turner, and be careful. Miss Mathews is not stupid and can be very noisy. Good evening," she disconnected.
"Paige,- Cole swore silently,- that's not good" He needed to check if she was indeed there but he could not keep staring at the balcony. Paige could get suspicious.
"Cole, are you Okay?" Nicole asked.
An incredible thought came into his mind. This might just work if Nicole plays along. He turned to Nicole, put his hand on her waist and pulled her closer so she was facing him, her knees on both side of his thighs.
"What are you doing?" Nicole gasped.
"Shh," Cole whispered, "we are being watched. You have to help me."
She looked at him suspiciously.
"Put your hands around my neck," he ordered. When she obeyed, he pulled her even closer and whispered, "I need to focus on the balcony without Paige noticing. I know Paige, if we start making out she'll be too preoccupied to suspect anything."
"Making out?" Nicole hissed.
"You have better ideas?" Cole hissed back and without even waiting for her answer kissed her. Nicole was too shocked to push him away. Cole tried to keep the kiss light. There was no need to make the situation more complicated and embarrassing. But Nicole's lips were soft and warm. She breathed in and her lips parted slightly and Cole felt his tongue slipping into her mouth. A light moan escaped her mouth and the same second both of them pulled apart. Nicole went red. Cole moved his eyes towards the balcony and found himself staring at Paige. Her nose was plastered to the window. Cole mentally cursed. The suspicions of the Halliwells have been getting really annoying. He quickly turned his gaze away and found himself staring into Nicole's lips. This made Cole curse again.
"Is she there?" he heard her whisper. She finally managed to compose herself enough to be able to talk. She will leave "kicking herself" for later when she was on her own and without Cole to witness it.
"Yes, she is," he muttered.
"So, what are we going to do?"
"We are going to carry on what we started," said Cole. Nicole glared at him, and Cole honestly felt that if looks could kill his invincibility would not save him right now. Anger flared in him and he curtly remarked, "you don't have to worry I don't bite."
Nicole gave him a filthy look. Then she bent down, pulled his tie and his jacket off and opened his shirt tearing off the buttons. Cole was so astonished by her actions that he just set there sprawled on the coach. A pain from a sharp pinch made him snap out of his stupor. "Come on, honey," he heard a sarcastic whisper in his ear. "Our visitor will think you are not enjoying yourself?!"
At this moment Cole had to fight a strong urge to blow Paige of the balcony and make her bitchy soul burn in hell forever. He had enough of making an exhibition of himself. He was half naked in his own living room with a beautiful woman on his lap and all of it was because his ex in-laws did not have a life and were determined to deprive him of one. He could feel Nicole's soft skin through the thin material of her blouse, the warmth of her slender legs next to his sigh and her warm fingers on his chest. For God's sake evil or not, he was just a man and his body started to react to the situation. He pushed Nicole on her back, quickly picked her up and marched to the bedroom. He sat her down on the bed and blurred out. As he predicted Paige was gone and Cole swearing under his breath blurred back.
Chapter 5. The Will.
Next morning Cole woke up really early and caught himself smiling once again. He slept well, he did not have a hangover and he had had a nice time last night. Cole liked Nicole. She was beautiful, intelligent, easy to get on with and had almost an unbelievable sense of tact. She could have been perfect for a one-night stand or even a short fling. However, they would probably have to spend a lot of time together while he'd trained her and therefore a short fling was not an option. He did not want to get too close to any woman right now. He was not ready for a relationship and especially, one where magic was involved. Therefore extra caution would be useful. Yesterday he had a nice evening and it would be for the best to leave it at that.
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Morning in Halliwell Manor was unusually quiet. Paige came late from her date. Piper and Leo enjoyed a rare lie-in free from charges, sisters and demons. Phoebe was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Seeing Cole yesterday brought back memories, feelings-everything. And seeing him with this tall, blonde miss Catwalk brought something Phoebe never felt before: jealousy. She could lie to Cole, to her sisters, to Jason, but she could not lie to herself. The thought of another woman next to Cole bothered her. She did not want him back but she also did not want him to find somebody else. Anyway he was too dangerous for any woman. This miss Catwalk did not deserve to be with him... Meaning that he could hurt her, right? She was an innocent in this situation. "Innocent?" Phoebe smirked. Sometimes one word can be a paradox in itself.
When Phoebe got downstairs an hour later she was already late for work. The whole family gathered around the table enjoying pancakes, which Piper'd made. She grabbed a cup of coffee on the table and was searching for her keys.
"How was your date with Jason?" Paige asked.
"It went well."
"So why were you home so early," Piper frowned.
"Because," Phoebe sighed, "he had an early meeting today so we decided to cut it short."
"Oh, honey, I am sorry."
"Don't be." All morning Phoebe was deliberating whether she should tell her sisters about Cole and this girl. She did not want to discuss the situation but then the girl was an innocent. "I bumped into Cole yesterday. It was an accident, for what I can say." She answered the question, which was clearly on everybody's mind. "He was at the same restaurant as Jason took me and," she paused, "and he was not alone. He had a girl with him and they left about 10 minutes after we came in."
"So," Paige commented dryly, "it did not take him long after your divorce, did it?"
"Paige," Piper seared her younger sister with a glare. Phoebe felt that the knot, which formed in her stomach when she saw Cole with this girl in the restaurant, has just become tighter.
"Well, it's good isn't it?" Paige continued, "if he does move on and leave Phoebe alone that would be the best thing he's done in a long time."
"Paige," this time it was Leo, trying to restrain the blunt tongue of the youngest Halliwell. He noticed that Phoebe stiffened and wished for the two things he'd been wishing for for the past six months: first, that Cole Turner would have never entered their lives and second, that Paige would learn to think before she opened her mouth.
"No, Paige is right. If he honestly moved on, I would be very happy." "God, how lame do I sound. "- Phoebe took a deep breath and said in a more normal voice. "It's just, I am worried about this girl. She is an innocent and with the powers Cole has now, I don't know what is on his mind. I am worried she'll get hurt." –Her family looked at her suspiciously.
"Honey, is this the only reason, why you are so upset," Piper asked attentively.
"What other reason would I have, Piper. Oh, I am sorry I forgot, I have divorced my husband just a week ago. Oh, no, I did not forget and you know why, because my family reminds me about it every 5 minutes."
Uneasy silence followed her outburst. Then Piper spoke up, "We're sorry, Phoebe. We're just worried about you."
"I know, you are worried but may be all of you would try to understand that I am trying really hard to get on with my life. And if I could I would not speak about Cole ever again in my life. But our destiny is to protect the innocents and Cole is a threat to them. And if this means talking about Cole then I will talk about him because protecting the innocents is the most important thing of my life, to which I have sacrificed my sister, my marriage and my child. And now I am going to work and you, Leo," she looked at him, "go and check with the Elders if they heard anything about Cole." She snapped the keys from the hook and left.
The kitchen fell into silence. Then Paige spoke up, "I have a bad feeling about it all."
"So am I," echoed Piper.
"She is not over him, not at all."
At this Leo interrupted, "Look, guys, there is a truth in what she said. Cole is dangerous and we should do something about it."
"Do what, Leo? We can't kill him - we tried, it did not work. We can't stop him dating-he's a free man."
"We can keep an eye on him," - piped Paige.
"What? Spy on him? And how do you propose to do that?"
"We can look for a spell, which will make us invisible and another one to tie our scrying crystal that it will always locate Cole and Leo or me can orb there on on/off basis and check up on what he's up to."
"For this we don't need a crystal, Cole is always either in his penthouse or at Carter, Jackman and Kline."
"Yes, but yesterday he was not there. He was in the restaurant."
"You can't orb into the restaurant."
"Yes, but you can orb outside and then walk in. I think it is something to think about. I am going to check the BOS if there is anything useful."
"Fine," agreed Piper. "But what shall we do with Phoebe?"
Leo shrugged his shoulders, "I don't think there is much we can do. She has to do it herself. We just have to be there for her and hope that time will cure her wounds."
********************
Cole picked Nicole up at her hotel half an hour before the funeral. They got stuck in traffic and made it just in time. The ceremony took place in the chapel of the XXX cemetery. The priest stood at the entrance of the church, next to him Nicole recognised Eric Sally, who allowed himself a small smile to greet them. He said something to the priest, who looked at newcomers with calm and sober eyes. "Miss Berg, Mr Turner, I am farther Cedric. Please come in. The ceremony is about to start. Please proceed to the front, relatives sit on the front bench."
"Thank you," Nicole nodded and entered the church. It was full with people. She could feel everybody's eyes on her. She heard father Cedric behind her. "Mr. Turner, I hope you'll accompany Miss Berg."
"Sure," -Cole followed her steps and sat down next to her. Nicole still could feel the eyes of the whole church on her but now it seemed less disturbing. The presence of Cole next to her made it more bearable. She felt uneasy. She did not know her uncle. She had vague memories of him from her early childhood more like feelings of warmth and strength that surrounded him. During the trying years following her father's death these memories were sometimes the only things, which helped her not to give up. She used to dream about him coming and saving her and sometimes she felt as if he was there telling her that things will get better. Nicole dreamt about her uncle like teenage girls usually dream about a knight in shining armour. And for Nicole he was her Knight.
When she got to University she spent 2 months trying to find his address and in the end she managed. She wrote to him so many times, begging him to come to England, telling him that she wanted to get to know him. He never answered. And Nicole spent an anxious 6 months waiting for his reply: hoping, wishing and cursing. Then she made a last attempt and phoned him. She left a message on the answering machine and was again waiting. He never called back and next time she called the automatic voice told her that the number did not exist. It was a clear sign that her uncle wanted nothing to do with her. Nicole cried for two days, got absolutely drunk and then decided to get on with her life. She told herself that she would not waste her life on somebody who did not care about her. She'd forbidden herself to dream about her uncle and vowed never to offer her love again. William Schwarzlight did not exist for her anymore. She managed to stick to her decision. She was good in managing things. When she heard the news about his death 5 days ago, she felt strange. Everything seemed so unreal so many things were happening, so she just went with the flow. Now when she sat in the church listening to the ceremony the truth hit her. Her uncle died, she would never be able to meet him, talk to him, ask him all those question. The resentment of the last 10 years disappeared and her true feelings surfaced when she realized the depth of her loss. She was attending the funeral of the only person who was dear to her.
Next to her Cole was musing about how normal this ceremony seemed. It was reserved and traditional, there were no speeches. A couple of times he shot a quick glance at Nicole, she was very pale and her face was a little strained but in general she was holding well. To tell the truth Cole was unsure about her. She seemed to be attached to her Uncle but at the same time she did not know him. When the ceremony was finished she stood firmly next to farther Cedric and accepted condolences from the mourners. After everyone else except them left father Cedric turned to Nicole and Cole. "According to Mr Schwarzlight's wishes nobody except the family members is going to be allowed into the mausoleum. If you would like to follow me I'll show you. And you too Mr. Turner."
Cole looked at him surprise. "I am not a family member."
"Well," father Cedric smiled but his eyes bored into Cole like two swirls, "you almost are." He swept past them and marched out of the church. Nicole and Cole had to hurry up to catch up with him. Cole expected a questioning comment but Nicole kept quiet and just followed the priest.
The mausoleum was on the other side of the lawn. It reminded Cole of his family mausoleum, but this one was much bigger. It was quite dark inside in spite of hundreds of candles lighting the building. When his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness he could see 13 parlours along one wall of the mausoleum. In the middle there was a twin tomb. It seemed that the coffin was already place in the tomb. The priest took a piece of paper out of his robes and said. "It's a family tradition to read a poem, chosen by the late family member." He turned to Nicole. "You might remember it from your father's funeral."
"Yes," Nicole was very pale and her voice shattered a bit. She took a deep breath and continued in more steady voice. "Yes, I remember. But I don't remember the words. I've never seen a copy."
"Well, your uncle picked this one. There are three parts, one for each of us. If it's all right with you I will start, Mr Turner will go second and, you, Nicole will finish."
Father Cedric took a deep breath and started to read. It was a beautiful poem, talking about coming back to the roots and joining the others, who'd been before. It was Cole's turn to read when he started to have a strange feeling that it reminded him about something he heard before. It was Nicole's turn, her voice was quiet and sounded even more husky than usual and then it dawned on Cole. It was a power-unbinding spell. A very strange one and complicated but it was an unbinding spell. He remembered it from the time when the Charmed ones used it on Paige. Though the spell of the Charmed ones was much shorter and easier, the essence was the same. Cole wanted to say something but then he caught the eyes of the priest. The latter almost invisibly shook his head and Cole stayed quiet. Suddenly Nicole gasped and stumbled back. In order not to fall she touched the left tomb but immediately pulled away with an even louder cry. Cole rushed to her and before he could catch her, his left shoulder touched the late Lugel's tomb. Cole felt how a stream of wind rushed through his body and a strong pain made him double in half. The next moment the feeling disappeared and Cole managed to catch Nicole just before she hit the floor. "Nicole, are you OK?"
Nicole could feel Cole's hand around her waist; she opened her eyes and saw a worried look on his face. "I... I am fine." Her voice reminded more of a whisper. He helped her to her feet. "It must be a muscle cramp from stress."
Cole did not say anything. But he perfectly well knew what happened. Nicole's powers got unbound. He looked at the priest but the latter's expression was unreadable.
"You should get some fresh air, Nicole. Anyway, the ceremony is now over. It's time for all of us to turn to our other duties. I have to return to my congregation and you, I believe, have a path to follow." Cole could feel the priest's eyes focused on him. "Good day." Father Cedric turned around and led them out of the mausoleum.
After leaving the cemetery Cole and Nicole headed straight to the offices of Sly&Sally. Both were very quiet. Cole was trying to come up with a plan how to explain everything to Nicole. She was deep in her own private thoughts. She felt strange, as if something inside her became awake. Nicole had a slight feeling of uneasiness and thought that it was caused by the stress of the last week and tiredness. Since arriving to the States Nicole did not have a single restful night of sleep. She constantly dreamt about fire, hell, angels: people she never met and places she's never seen. When they arrived to the offices they were immediately lead to the office of Eric Sally. He greeted them very seriously and proceeded straight away. "I am really glad that both of you could attend the funeral. Now as the first condition of Mr. Schwarzlight's will has been fulfilled we can proceed with the rest. Mr. Schwarzlight named two people as his heirs: his niece Nicole Berg and his friend Cole Turner. For the last 25 years William Schwarzlight was a guardian of his brother's fortune, which was trusted to him after the latter's demise. Both brothers were very wealthy. They were owners of the BalFor Holdings each holding 7.6% of shares. This percentage is equivalent to approximately 20 billion. All the shareholders are also board members of the company. The shares of the holdings company cannot be sold; they can only be transferred to the next board member. When a new board member joins the company he immediately received a personal wealth of 500 million dollars, which increases with each year spent on the board. According to my client's will Nicole will inherit the share formerly belonging to her father. You, Mr. Turner will inherit the share belonging to Mr. Schwarzlight himself. In order to receive the inheritance you both have to start working full time for BalFor Holdings or one of their subsidiaries and become board members. You are required to leave your current jobs and reside within the USA. Mr. Schwarzlight had his own personal wealth, mostly in real estate, estimated at 20 million dollars: these include houses in San Francisco, Cote d'Azure, penthouses in London, Paris, Sydney and Vancouver; and a villa in Sicily. All of those will be passed to you, Nicole. You Mr. Turner will inherit the villa in Carmel. I believe that in the past it belonged to your father's family?!"
Both Cole and Nicole had been seating with their mouths open from the moment they heard the sum of 20 billion dollars so the former only managed a confused nod. This was beyond anything he could imagine in his wild dreams or nightmares. Cole was not sure which this one was going to be. Last night after dropping off Nicole he spent hours trying to find out why he was mentioned in the late Lugel's will. It was obvious to him that William Schwarzlight was trying to tie him in. But why? Cole gave him a word and was not planning to get back on it firstly because it was not his style and secondly because he was not suicidal. Nobody in their right mind would break a word given to a Lugel, even if said Lugel was dead. If William Schwarzlight left him just money Cole would not be very concerned. In all his life Cole never had financial problems. It came with being a demon and a lawyer. Of course half a billion dollars or personal wealth still meant something to him. Much more worrying were the shares in BalFor Holdings and the demand to start working for it. Cole searched his memory but could not remember ever hearing about this company either in the demonic world or in the mortal one. Experience taught Cole to be wary of things he could not understand. But what made Cole even more nervous was the villa in Carmel. It was a summer home belonging to his father's family. For some reason from all his childhood Cole remembered this villa the best. While working for the brotherhood undercover in one of his Upperworld missions he visited it. The villa was occupied. Cole could hear the children screaming and shouting playing some kind of game. He stood there for a couple of minutes and then left. At a time he told himself that he did not like the place anymore but now he could admit that it was painful to be their and it disturbed something in his human side that upper level demon Belthazor could not afford. When he was with Phoebe he thought about buying the place for him and Phoebe but then realized that Phoebe would never want to live there. There was no point owning the place if he was never going to be there. The fact that old Lugel gave him this place meant that he knew about Cole's past, that he took a trouble to check every little detail. And that made half demon apprehensive. He heard enough about Lugels to know that they did not waste time on unimportant things. The voice of Eric Sally snapped Cole out of his thoughts.
"Any questions so far?"
"Just one," Cole muttered silently, "what the hell is all this about. But then I doubt you have the answer." Cole shot a look at Nicole, and immediately wished he did not. Two emerald eyes were as hard as rock and regarded with a mixture of anger and derision.
"Yes," she said turning to Eric Sally, "I have one. When did my uncle write this will?"
If the lawyer was surprised by this question he did not show it. "Mr Schwarzlight had a will for the last 20 years. He did introduce some changes about a month ago but I am afraid I am not at liberty to tell you which ones."
Cole knew perfectly well which changes were introduced just a month ago, but he was not about to voice his thoughts. He could feel Nicole staring at him and in spite of her calm exterior he was convinced that she was fuming inside so it was best not to push her further. He did not fancy having a young Lugel loosing her control especially since her powers were just unbound.
"Any more questions?" Eric asked. Cole just shook his head and Nicole made a gesture offering the lawyer to continue. "Well," the partner returned his gaze to his paperwork, "this is basically all main points of the will. I only have to inform you that you have 48 hours to accept the conditions."
"48 hours?" Nicole was genuinely surprised. "Isn't it a little to short for such a decision?"
"It's a condition of the will," Eric Sally replied softly, "I am afraid that you will have to comply with this." Cole knew very well why this deadline was set. During the first 48 hours Nicole's powers could be bound again. And Lugels did not want to risk having somebody so powerful walking around if she was not going to accept her destiny with them. The young woman just shook her head and did not say anything. Eric Sally continued, "While you are deciding I am authorised to give Nicole keys to your uncle's house. You are very welcome to stay there. I also believe that your uncle has left you few items in the house, which as he put it would help you to make the right decision." He handed Nicole a set of keys. "If you don't have any other questions, then I am sure you would like to see the house. I'll be looking forward to hearing your decision and very much hope that you are going to make the right one."
Cole and Nicole got up and left. All the way down in the lift Cole was aware of the young woman staring at him but she did not say anything since the building was very busy. But the moment they got into the car and Cole drove off, Nicole turned to him and asked in sarcastic tone. "Okay, Mr Turner, spill it out, who are you? Uncle Will's illegitimate son or long lost brother of mine?"
This was so far from the truth that Cole could not help but laugh.
"Do you think it's funny?" Nicole glared at him, "what am I supposed to think? You lied to me! You told me that you just met my uncle less than 2 moths ago. People don't leave twenty billion dollars to somebody they hardly know."
"I did not lie to you," Cole retorted, "it's the absolute truth that I met you uncle one and a half months ago and I am not his or your relative. I was as surprised as you to find out about this inheritance."
"I don't believe you," she shot. "If you are not a relative then why did you inherit all this? We got basically equal shares. I am not even sure why I got all of this, but you?"
Cole paused for a minute. He did not know how to explain Nicole the whole thing but he was absolutely convinced that a car driving at the speed of 70 miles an hour was not the right place for a long story. So he tried to say as little as possible. "I think your uncle had his own reasons. May be he wanted to tie me in this BalFor Holdings."
"Oh, really? Come on Cole, you promised that a lot of things were going to become clearer after the announcement of the will. If anything they got even more confusing. Why all these restrictions? How the hell are we expected to take a decision to change our lives in 2 days?! Why do we have to start working for that corporation? I am not an executive and neither are you. We are too young and inexperienced to seat on the board of the multi billion dollar company. And don't pretend that you have no idea what's going on! Because you do and I know it. Tell me the truth; I think I deserve to know."
Cole hesitated for a moment, then he sighed and gave up. "Look, what I told you is the truth. I did meet your uncle less then 2 months ago. And I did not know that I would be even mentioned in his will till yesterday. And of course I did not expect to inherit all this."
"Yeah, yeah," Nicole interrupted, "I heard all of that before and you have no idea why you got it."
"I did not say that. I don't know it for sure but I have some ideas." Cole paused and then spoke up slowly trying to find the right words. "Your uncle was part of a very influential and powerful clan. This clan is in charge of protecting a group of people, who have very unusual abilities from the rest of the population. And I am one of this group and so are you but you don't know about it. He wanted me to help you to adjust to the changes in your life. He might have other plans as well but I don't know about them. All I promised was to help you, protect you and train you." Nicole looked at him as if he was mad. Cole sighed and continued. "I know that it sounds really strange but it's the truth. I don't want to go into the details now because I am hoping that your uncle left something in his house, which could help me to explain things and you to understand them. And all I am asking of you is a bit more patience and I promise I will explain everything when we get to your uncles house.
Nicole looked at him suspiciously, then sighed and turned her head away. "This is just unbelievable," she uttered, "absolutely unbelievable," she made an annoyed gesture with her hand and suddenly Cole saw a massive energy ball flying from her palm and straight into the engine. Acting by the instinct Cole let the stirring will go, grabbed Nicole's hand and blurred into the penthouse. They materialized in his living room. Cole quickly checked if Nicole was unharmed. He was not sure if she was invincible yet. But she seemed to be physically fine. She looked at Cole, her eyes filled with fear and hoarsely asked, "What was it?" her voice was mere a whisper. She looked at her palm with horror, "How did I do that?"
"You conjured an energy ball," he answered softly. "This is one of your powers and mine." He opened his palm and Nicole saw a small glowing sphere on it. She shrieked and backed away. Cole closed his palm and the sphere disappeared. "Look," he continued "when I talked about the group of people with unusual abilities, I meant magic people. A bit like Harry Potter. But Harry Potter books talk only about one type of magic, which is wizardian, it is the weakest type. Everything, which you thought were fairy tails does exist: witches, demons, vampires, warlocks. Your uncle belonged to Lugels. They stand above good and evil and their task is to protect the magic world from the non-magic people and preserve the balance between good and evil. You are half Lugel. You have enormous powers: energy balls are just a tiny part."
"And you?" she asked, "you are a Lugel as well?"
"No," he shook his head, "I am a half demon. My farther was mortal, like your mother, and my mother was a demon. I have her powers."
Nicole looked at him with disbelief and then asked, "How did we get here?"
He smiled, "Oh, that was easy. I blurred."
"Blurred? What that?"
"It's like instantaneous moving in space and in dimensions."
Nicole's face was worthy of a picture, there was such mixture of feelings written on it. She shook her head and looked at Cole, "You're mad. This is mad. Blurring? Energy balls? You'll say I can move things in space as well?!"
Cole smiled. "Of course you can, it's called telekinesis."
Nicole laughed. "Of course, telekinesis. How simple. I just wave my hand and things will fly into the walls. Like this." Nicole swayed her hand into Cole's direction and he was flung into the wall together with the bottle of whisky standing on the table behind him. Cole hit the wall and slid on the coach. The bottle collided with the painting on the wall and the glass shuttered into a million of pieces spraying Cole with a shower of little daggers. "Oh, God," Nicole gasped and ran to him, "I am so sorry. Are you Okay? Did I hurt you? Cole, please, say something."
Cole opened his eyes and smiled at her, "You have a hell of a power," his voice sounded a bit rough. "I don't envy the poor sole, who will be on the receiving end of it. Can tell from my own experience," he smiled and casually waved his hand at the splinters of glass around him.
Nicole looked with awe as the bottle and the painting resumed their previous positions as if they never came in touch with each other. She looked back at Cole and her hand reached the back of his head. "You don't even have a bump."
"I don't get bumps," he pulled away from her hand. "It's another type of powers." At this moment Cole's mobile rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Cole Turner."
"Good evening, Mr Turner," said low female voice with distinct French accent. "Just want to let you know that a visitor just arrived on your balcony." Cole jerked his head to the balcony but it was empty.
"I think you are mistaken." He answered coldly.
"I suggest you use your vision better, Mr Turner, and be careful. Miss Mathews is not stupid and can be very noisy. Good evening," she disconnected.
"Paige,- Cole swore silently,- that's not good" He needed to check if she was indeed there but he could not keep staring at the balcony. Paige could get suspicious.
"Cole, are you Okay?" Nicole asked.
An incredible thought came into his mind. This might just work if Nicole plays along. He turned to Nicole, put his hand on her waist and pulled her closer so she was facing him, her knees on both side of his thighs.
"What are you doing?" Nicole gasped.
"Shh," Cole whispered, "we are being watched. You have to help me."
She looked at him suspiciously.
"Put your hands around my neck," he ordered. When she obeyed, he pulled her even closer and whispered, "I need to focus on the balcony without Paige noticing. I know Paige, if we start making out she'll be too preoccupied to suspect anything."
"Making out?" Nicole hissed.
"You have better ideas?" Cole hissed back and without even waiting for her answer kissed her. Nicole was too shocked to push him away. Cole tried to keep the kiss light. There was no need to make the situation more complicated and embarrassing. But Nicole's lips were soft and warm. She breathed in and her lips parted slightly and Cole felt his tongue slipping into her mouth. A light moan escaped her mouth and the same second both of them pulled apart. Nicole went red. Cole moved his eyes towards the balcony and found himself staring at Paige. Her nose was plastered to the window. Cole mentally cursed. The suspicions of the Halliwells have been getting really annoying. He quickly turned his gaze away and found himself staring into Nicole's lips. This made Cole curse again.
"Is she there?" he heard her whisper. She finally managed to compose herself enough to be able to talk. She will leave "kicking herself" for later when she was on her own and without Cole to witness it.
"Yes, she is," he muttered.
"So, what are we going to do?"
"We are going to carry on what we started," said Cole. Nicole glared at him, and Cole honestly felt that if looks could kill his invincibility would not save him right now. Anger flared in him and he curtly remarked, "you don't have to worry I don't bite."
Nicole gave him a filthy look. Then she bent down, pulled his tie and his jacket off and opened his shirt tearing off the buttons. Cole was so astonished by her actions that he just set there sprawled on the coach. A pain from a sharp pinch made him snap out of his stupor. "Come on, honey," he heard a sarcastic whisper in his ear. "Our visitor will think you are not enjoying yourself?!"
At this moment Cole had to fight a strong urge to blow Paige of the balcony and make her bitchy soul burn in hell forever. He had enough of making an exhibition of himself. He was half naked in his own living room with a beautiful woman on his lap and all of it was because his ex in-laws did not have a life and were determined to deprive him of one. He could feel Nicole's soft skin through the thin material of her blouse, the warmth of her slender legs next to his sigh and her warm fingers on his chest. For God's sake evil or not, he was just a man and his body started to react to the situation. He pushed Nicole on her back, quickly picked her up and marched to the bedroom. He sat her down on the bed and blurred out. As he predicted Paige was gone and Cole swearing under his breath blurred back.