"Good morning, sunshine," Chris mocked Chloe as she joined him in the
attic. She was rubbing her blood-shot eyes and yawning. She casually
walked over to the sofa and plopped down, watching Chris and Paige sweep up
the remnants of the night before.
"You really are a spark of happiness in the morning," Paige added. Chris smiled. *She is going to be on my side, I can tell.*
"That's what you think," Chloe yawned and laid down on the sofa.
"That's what who thinks?" Paige emptied her dustpan into the garbage bag.
"That's what Chris thinks," Chloe closed her eyes, "he thinks you're going to be on his side growing up."
"Rat," Chris taunted. Chloe stuck out her tongue. "How's the hangover?"
"Oh, it's never-ending fun," Chloe lied, "you had more than me. I don't understand."
Chris left the room and returned with a glass of water and aspirin, "Yeah, but you were drinking liquor. You've got to stop that," he handed her the glass and aspirin.
The attic was finally clean, and Chloe was sleeping soundly on the sofa. Chris and Paige were working on new vanquishing potions and writing a power of three spell for Batterak when Phoebe came up the stairs. "Have you seen?" she started as Paige and Chris motioned for her to be quiet. Paige took her shoulder as they walked back out of the attic and shut the door.
"Let's go downstairs to talk," Chris directed his aunts as they went down the stairs.
The three of them walked downstairs and into the kitchen where they found Cole sipping coffee and reading the paper. "I never expected things to change so much in a year," he shook his head, "I was alive for a hundred years before and I never saw how much everything changed. It gives you a new perspective when you've been dead."
Paige still couldn't accept that Cole was good. She had ill feelings towards him from the day she first met him. She had just become a witch and the supernatural world was still a mystery to her. She tried to make it as black and white as she could—but soon learned that was next to impossible. Her oldest sister was married to their whitelighter, even though that had once be forbidden... and was the reason she was given up for adoption. Her next sister, Phoebe, was dating a demon... but aren't demons bad? How was she supposed to make sense of all this new information? Instead of accepting the grey, she had been focused on the extremes. In her haste, she had never accepted that Cole had a soul. When he became the source she was the first one to suspect his change. Her skepticism had put a rift between her and her newly discovered sisters although she was right about Cole's deception. Ultimately, it was Paige that lead the charge on Cole and brought about his vanquish. She and Cole were the only two who could remember what the alternate reality was like—knowing that, and seeing Cole, made her very nervous.
Leo carrying Wyatt, and Piper entered the breakfast room with everyone else. Paige was standing at the sink putting as many barriers as she could between herself and her ex-demon-brother-in-law.
"Morning," Piper smiled, then seeing Cole she stepped behind Leo who turned Wyatt away from him. Phoebe was the only one who would sit at the table with him. Chris was busy looking through the refrigerator for some strawberry jam.
"I know everyone is scared of me," Cole spoke, "and to be honest, I am, too. But I won't hurt you. I can't."
"I'm not scared of you," Chris announced returning to the table with a bag of bagels, jar of strawberry jam, and cream cheese. Piper and Leo looked at him like he was crazy to which he responded, "I'm not," as he began preparing his breakfast.
"Thanks," Cole nodded, "and you're their son?"
"Yep," Chris spoke with his mouth full.
"Is that you?" Cole pointed towards Wyatt.
Chris shook his head no. "This is Wyatt," Leo informed him, "He's the oldest."
"Right," confusion filled Cole's voice.
"I'm in there," Chris pointed to Piper's pregnant belly.
"Got it, and you're the youngest. This family hasn't gotten any more normal since I've been gone," he took the final sip of his coffee and rose from the table to take the cup to sink.
Everyone glared at Phoebe, "What?" she asked innocently.
"He doesn't know about the other house guest," Piper smiled.
"Uh, haven't gotten that far yet."
"Good morning, all," Chloe emerged from the conservatory. "What's for breakfast?" she asked looking around the room. Then shimmered out and back in from being startled when she saw her father.
"Demon!" Cole yelled and hurled an energy ball at Chloe.
"No!" Phoebe responded jumping up from her seat and channeling Chris's telekinesis, deflected the ball away from her daughter. "She's not a demon!"
"Oh boy, we get to go through all this again," Piper rolled her eyes.
"What?" Cole asked, "There is way too much going on for me to keep this all straight."
"I've got a headache," Chloe managed to mumble as she took a seat at the kitchen table.
"Here," Chris pushed a bagel towards her.
"Somebody explain!" Cole shouted.
"Headache," Chloe repeated, "Hangover."
Phoebe took Cole's arm and escorted him to the table, "You need to sit." She sat Cole next to Chloe who could not stop staring at him. "Well, we've told you that Chris is Leo and Piper's son from the future. This," she indicated Chloe, "is our daughter, Chloe. She is also from the future. That's why she is staring at you." Chloe blushed and turned away.
Cole looked at everyone in the room, "You have a son named Wyatt and another on the way, who just happens to be sitting at the table and eating. And looks to be about twenty-three?" he looked to Piper and Leo.
"I'm almost twenty-four," Chris enlightened him in between bites. Everyone looked at him, "I am! Gosh..." he took another bite.
"Right, and Paige is just standing here, not trying to kill me. You and I somehow have a baby at some point, and she is sitting right here... with a hangover? And her name is Chloe?"
"You smushed your names together," Chloe weakly smiled.
"I think I need a drink," Cole looked around the room.
Chloe continued staring at her bagel. She had not expected everything to go this way. She had originally expected her mom to be furious with the news that her father was Cole. But she accepted it. She had thought that Cole would embrace her the moment he found out she was his daughter. Instead, he had gotten up from the table and was pacing the floor. *I'm your princess,* she thought.
Chris sighed, "Do you know why we brought you back? Why your daughter came here to bring you back?"
Cole turned to look at Phoebe, "I hadn't gotten there yet, either," Phoebe admitted.
"What have you told him?" Paige asked the question in everyone's mind.
"That I'm good. And I'm not a demon. The Avatars are the ones who wanted to bring me back. I have all my powers. And she's sorry about whatever happened to get me vanquished."
"Among other things," Phoebe confessed through a small smile.
"You were brought back because Batterak is feeding off you in the future and has absorbed all your power. That being said, he has somehow become immune to the power of three and any vanquishing potion we have. He is a force of serious evil, and I wouldn't say that he is the source, but he is right up there close to him. Somehow he followed me back here when the Avatars sent me to resurrect you. I don't know why he's here, but I know that you are the only one strong enough to weaken him so we can vanquish him," Chloe decisively told him and walked up to him. "I am your daughter. I have very similar powers to you. And he uses them against me. If he gets his way he will not only have your powers eight years earlier than he had originally, but he will also kill me. So, if you all don't mind," she turned to the rest of the family, "I think I am significantly sober now and I am going upstairs to take a shower."
"There 'ya go," Phoebe grinned, "I think he knows everything now." Cole watched Chloe go up the stairs.
"We have a daughter? And that is her?" he turned back to Phoebe.
"Yeah, I just found out last night. It's kind of settling in for all of us. Except Chris, they knew each other," Phoebe was feeling progressively more uncomfortable with the situation. Cole walked over to the stairs and looked up them.
"I'd be careful if I were you, man," Chris advised, "She has your temper."
Cole sat in Piper's room waiting for Chloe to get out of the shower. He looked around at the pictures. He saw pictures of the sisters with Wyatt shortly after his birth, Leo cradling a baby Wyatt for the camera, Victor and the girls, Chris forcing a big smile at Wyatt's first birthday. He picked them up, "So much has happened," he said to himself, "And I'm a father."
Chloe walked in the room toweling her hair dry and wearing only a bathrobe. "AH!" she screamed dropping the towel.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Cole apologized, "I just wanted to talk."
Chloe couldn't stop the tears from filling her eyes. "Do you mind if I get dressed first?" she asked holding back as best she could.
"Oh yeah, sure. I'll be downstairs," Cole exited the room as Piper came up to him. "Excuse me," he slid past her.
Chloe was sitting on the bed watching her toes. Piper walked in and sat on the bed next to her. Paige and Phoebe appeared in the doorframe. "Hey sweetpea," Phoebe entered the room and sat down on the other side of her daughter and began playing with her hair. Paige was the last to enter and sat behind Chloe, rubbing her shoulders. Chloe couldn't hold it back anymore—she started bawling. She leaned on her mother's shoulder, Phoebe played with her hair, Paige rubbed her shoulders, and Piper held her hand. "It's ok, let it all out," Phoebe gave her permission to cry. Chloe started laughing. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but ok." Phoebe looked at her sisters puzzled.
"I'm so happy," Chloe finally said. "I haven't been in the same room with the three of you since... I don't know when. I haven't seen my dad since I was five. And I had never met Leo before two days ago. Now my whole family is under one roof. I am very happy."
"Well, that's the best news I've heard all day," Paige kidded.
"I have the perfect dress for you. Don't worry, it's not one of my maternity outfits," she winked, "you need to be wearing something nice to talk to your dad."
Phoebe leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, "We're all still working through this, Chloe. But we will work through it. We've made it through worse. Every person in this room has had to reconcile a relationship with her father. Our dad left when we were little, Paige just met Sam last year. And we've all made it through it," she assured her.
"We're going to have you beautiful," Paige got up and pulled Chloe to her feet. "Come on!"
Chris was standing outside the door to Piper's room listening to the conversation. It did seem to him that every member of the Halliwell family had a broken relationship with his or her father. Unlike the rest of them, he was in no hurry to mend his.
"You really are a spark of happiness in the morning," Paige added. Chris smiled. *She is going to be on my side, I can tell.*
"That's what you think," Chloe yawned and laid down on the sofa.
"That's what who thinks?" Paige emptied her dustpan into the garbage bag.
"That's what Chris thinks," Chloe closed her eyes, "he thinks you're going to be on his side growing up."
"Rat," Chris taunted. Chloe stuck out her tongue. "How's the hangover?"
"Oh, it's never-ending fun," Chloe lied, "you had more than me. I don't understand."
Chris left the room and returned with a glass of water and aspirin, "Yeah, but you were drinking liquor. You've got to stop that," he handed her the glass and aspirin.
The attic was finally clean, and Chloe was sleeping soundly on the sofa. Chris and Paige were working on new vanquishing potions and writing a power of three spell for Batterak when Phoebe came up the stairs. "Have you seen?" she started as Paige and Chris motioned for her to be quiet. Paige took her shoulder as they walked back out of the attic and shut the door.
"Let's go downstairs to talk," Chris directed his aunts as they went down the stairs.
The three of them walked downstairs and into the kitchen where they found Cole sipping coffee and reading the paper. "I never expected things to change so much in a year," he shook his head, "I was alive for a hundred years before and I never saw how much everything changed. It gives you a new perspective when you've been dead."
Paige still couldn't accept that Cole was good. She had ill feelings towards him from the day she first met him. She had just become a witch and the supernatural world was still a mystery to her. She tried to make it as black and white as she could—but soon learned that was next to impossible. Her oldest sister was married to their whitelighter, even though that had once be forbidden... and was the reason she was given up for adoption. Her next sister, Phoebe, was dating a demon... but aren't demons bad? How was she supposed to make sense of all this new information? Instead of accepting the grey, she had been focused on the extremes. In her haste, she had never accepted that Cole had a soul. When he became the source she was the first one to suspect his change. Her skepticism had put a rift between her and her newly discovered sisters although she was right about Cole's deception. Ultimately, it was Paige that lead the charge on Cole and brought about his vanquish. She and Cole were the only two who could remember what the alternate reality was like—knowing that, and seeing Cole, made her very nervous.
Leo carrying Wyatt, and Piper entered the breakfast room with everyone else. Paige was standing at the sink putting as many barriers as she could between herself and her ex-demon-brother-in-law.
"Morning," Piper smiled, then seeing Cole she stepped behind Leo who turned Wyatt away from him. Phoebe was the only one who would sit at the table with him. Chris was busy looking through the refrigerator for some strawberry jam.
"I know everyone is scared of me," Cole spoke, "and to be honest, I am, too. But I won't hurt you. I can't."
"I'm not scared of you," Chris announced returning to the table with a bag of bagels, jar of strawberry jam, and cream cheese. Piper and Leo looked at him like he was crazy to which he responded, "I'm not," as he began preparing his breakfast.
"Thanks," Cole nodded, "and you're their son?"
"Yep," Chris spoke with his mouth full.
"Is that you?" Cole pointed towards Wyatt.
Chris shook his head no. "This is Wyatt," Leo informed him, "He's the oldest."
"Right," confusion filled Cole's voice.
"I'm in there," Chris pointed to Piper's pregnant belly.
"Got it, and you're the youngest. This family hasn't gotten any more normal since I've been gone," he took the final sip of his coffee and rose from the table to take the cup to sink.
Everyone glared at Phoebe, "What?" she asked innocently.
"He doesn't know about the other house guest," Piper smiled.
"Uh, haven't gotten that far yet."
"Good morning, all," Chloe emerged from the conservatory. "What's for breakfast?" she asked looking around the room. Then shimmered out and back in from being startled when she saw her father.
"Demon!" Cole yelled and hurled an energy ball at Chloe.
"No!" Phoebe responded jumping up from her seat and channeling Chris's telekinesis, deflected the ball away from her daughter. "She's not a demon!"
"Oh boy, we get to go through all this again," Piper rolled her eyes.
"What?" Cole asked, "There is way too much going on for me to keep this all straight."
"I've got a headache," Chloe managed to mumble as she took a seat at the kitchen table.
"Here," Chris pushed a bagel towards her.
"Somebody explain!" Cole shouted.
"Headache," Chloe repeated, "Hangover."
Phoebe took Cole's arm and escorted him to the table, "You need to sit." She sat Cole next to Chloe who could not stop staring at him. "Well, we've told you that Chris is Leo and Piper's son from the future. This," she indicated Chloe, "is our daughter, Chloe. She is also from the future. That's why she is staring at you." Chloe blushed and turned away.
Cole looked at everyone in the room, "You have a son named Wyatt and another on the way, who just happens to be sitting at the table and eating. And looks to be about twenty-three?" he looked to Piper and Leo.
"I'm almost twenty-four," Chris enlightened him in between bites. Everyone looked at him, "I am! Gosh..." he took another bite.
"Right, and Paige is just standing here, not trying to kill me. You and I somehow have a baby at some point, and she is sitting right here... with a hangover? And her name is Chloe?"
"You smushed your names together," Chloe weakly smiled.
"I think I need a drink," Cole looked around the room.
Chloe continued staring at her bagel. She had not expected everything to go this way. She had originally expected her mom to be furious with the news that her father was Cole. But she accepted it. She had thought that Cole would embrace her the moment he found out she was his daughter. Instead, he had gotten up from the table and was pacing the floor. *I'm your princess,* she thought.
Chris sighed, "Do you know why we brought you back? Why your daughter came here to bring you back?"
Cole turned to look at Phoebe, "I hadn't gotten there yet, either," Phoebe admitted.
"What have you told him?" Paige asked the question in everyone's mind.
"That I'm good. And I'm not a demon. The Avatars are the ones who wanted to bring me back. I have all my powers. And she's sorry about whatever happened to get me vanquished."
"Among other things," Phoebe confessed through a small smile.
"You were brought back because Batterak is feeding off you in the future and has absorbed all your power. That being said, he has somehow become immune to the power of three and any vanquishing potion we have. He is a force of serious evil, and I wouldn't say that he is the source, but he is right up there close to him. Somehow he followed me back here when the Avatars sent me to resurrect you. I don't know why he's here, but I know that you are the only one strong enough to weaken him so we can vanquish him," Chloe decisively told him and walked up to him. "I am your daughter. I have very similar powers to you. And he uses them against me. If he gets his way he will not only have your powers eight years earlier than he had originally, but he will also kill me. So, if you all don't mind," she turned to the rest of the family, "I think I am significantly sober now and I am going upstairs to take a shower."
"There 'ya go," Phoebe grinned, "I think he knows everything now." Cole watched Chloe go up the stairs.
"We have a daughter? And that is her?" he turned back to Phoebe.
"Yeah, I just found out last night. It's kind of settling in for all of us. Except Chris, they knew each other," Phoebe was feeling progressively more uncomfortable with the situation. Cole walked over to the stairs and looked up them.
"I'd be careful if I were you, man," Chris advised, "She has your temper."
Cole sat in Piper's room waiting for Chloe to get out of the shower. He looked around at the pictures. He saw pictures of the sisters with Wyatt shortly after his birth, Leo cradling a baby Wyatt for the camera, Victor and the girls, Chris forcing a big smile at Wyatt's first birthday. He picked them up, "So much has happened," he said to himself, "And I'm a father."
Chloe walked in the room toweling her hair dry and wearing only a bathrobe. "AH!" she screamed dropping the towel.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Cole apologized, "I just wanted to talk."
Chloe couldn't stop the tears from filling her eyes. "Do you mind if I get dressed first?" she asked holding back as best she could.
"Oh yeah, sure. I'll be downstairs," Cole exited the room as Piper came up to him. "Excuse me," he slid past her.
Chloe was sitting on the bed watching her toes. Piper walked in and sat on the bed next to her. Paige and Phoebe appeared in the doorframe. "Hey sweetpea," Phoebe entered the room and sat down on the other side of her daughter and began playing with her hair. Paige was the last to enter and sat behind Chloe, rubbing her shoulders. Chloe couldn't hold it back anymore—she started bawling. She leaned on her mother's shoulder, Phoebe played with her hair, Paige rubbed her shoulders, and Piper held her hand. "It's ok, let it all out," Phoebe gave her permission to cry. Chloe started laughing. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but ok." Phoebe looked at her sisters puzzled.
"I'm so happy," Chloe finally said. "I haven't been in the same room with the three of you since... I don't know when. I haven't seen my dad since I was five. And I had never met Leo before two days ago. Now my whole family is under one roof. I am very happy."
"Well, that's the best news I've heard all day," Paige kidded.
"I have the perfect dress for you. Don't worry, it's not one of my maternity outfits," she winked, "you need to be wearing something nice to talk to your dad."
Phoebe leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, "We're all still working through this, Chloe. But we will work through it. We've made it through worse. Every person in this room has had to reconcile a relationship with her father. Our dad left when we were little, Paige just met Sam last year. And we've all made it through it," she assured her.
"We're going to have you beautiful," Paige got up and pulled Chloe to her feet. "Come on!"
Chris was standing outside the door to Piper's room listening to the conversation. It did seem to him that every member of the Halliwell family had a broken relationship with his or her father. Unlike the rest of them, he was in no hurry to mend his.