Cole raised his eyes from the newspaper when Phoebe entered the living room.
"Is he asleep?" he asked.
"At last," she sighed as she sat by his side on the couch. "He was very excited, with everything that happened this morning."
It had taken her a good thirty minutes to tuck Ben in; yet, she'd have gladly spent twice as much time lulling him with soft words and lullabies, just so that he didn't skip his afternoon nap. Ben wasn't prone to temper tantrums, but he could have major ones if his sleep schedule was thrown off.
"Do you think he was scared?" Leo asked as he turned off the TV.
"Not at all," Phoebe said, smiling and shaking her head. "Actually, I think he found it all very interesting."
Leo smiled, too; he opened his mouth to say something else, but then he perked up and listened for a moment, before turning to Phoebe again.
"A charge is calling," he explained. "Can you stay here with Cole?" he asked, watching with some amusement as Cole shifted position on the sofa, annoyed.
"We'll be fine, Leo, thanks," Phoebe said. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she could hardly suppress a giggle at the look on Cole's face. They had discussed the situation over lunch and, despite his protests, the others had agreed that he shouldn't be left alone until the vengeance demon was no longer a threat.
After Leo orbed out, Cole sighed and turned to Phoebe, putting the newspaper aside.
"Baby, this is ridiculous," he said. "There's no need for you to take turns babysitting me."
"Cole, we're talking about a demoness who can track you down wherever you are," Phoebe said, promptly sobering, "and who's powerful enough to unleash hell on you -- literally. Wouldn't you do the same if she was after me?"
"Yes, but..."
"But nothing," she said, cutting him off. "You're every bit as important to me as I am to you, Cole Turner," she said, seriously, "and I am not taking any chances here."
Phoebe moved closer to Cole and hugged him, resting her head on his chest; she smiled and closed her eyes as she felt Cole's arms wrap tightly around her. After a while, though, she raised her head to face him.
"You believe that, don't you?" she asked, quietly.
"Believe what?"
"That I love you as much as you love me."
"Yes, baby," he said, touching her face. "I know you do. You show it to me in a hundred different ways, every single day."
He reached out to play with a brown strand of hair, curling it around his finger, and added, knowing exactly where that sudden insecurity was coming from:
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier."
"Don't be," Phoebe said firmly, shaking her head.
She took the hand that was toying with her hair and kissed its knuckles, one by one, before looking at him again.
"Don't be," she said again. "I wish you didn't feel this way but, since you do, I'm glad you've said it. I don't want you to keep things from me; we both know how that can end."
"You would never make that wish, Phoebe. I know that. It's just..." -- he pulled her closer again, closing his eyes as he rested his chin on her head -- "I was really scared, baby. I don't have the words to tell you how much."
"I know," she whispered, rubbing his forearm and shoulder, feeling the tension in them. "But she won't lay her clutches on you, baby, I promise you that. That part of our lives is over, for good. You're safe now; you're home."
"I'm home," he repeated after her, savoring the word. Home: he could never get tired of that little word. That little wonderful, warm, welcoming word.
"I know," he said softly, kissing the top of her head and pulling her to his lap, where she snuggled, contently. "I know, baby."
"Hell can't have you, Cole," Phoebe insisted, her head still resting on his chest, "Hell is for evil, and there's nothing evil about you. And if the gates of hell as much as try to close on you, I'm gonna break them down myself in order to let you out."
The last sentence was said with such fiery determination, that Cole couldn't help but smile as he gently tipped her chin.
"Hell hath no fury like an angry Halliwell," he said, only half joking.
"That's right," she said, nodding. "And yet another demon is about to learn that -- in a very painful way."
Cole leaned down to kiss her, his beautiful, strong, passionate Halliwell, who had already descended to Hell to rescue him once, when Raynor had took him back to the Underworld, a modern-day Eurydice saving her Orpheus, instead of the other way around. All worries and fears flew out of his mind as their mouths joined in a long, loving kiss, and he held her tight against his heart, knowing in every fiber of his being that this was, indeed, the safest place for him to be: close to Phoebe.
When the kiss ended, they didn't pull apart; Cole rested his forehead on Phoebe's, blue eyes locked in brown ones, and they just sat like that, reveling in each other's closeness. He raised one hand to brush his finger along her cheekbone, all the way down to her chin, then gently traced the line of her lips, his finger following their upward curve as she smiled at him.
"I love you," he said softly, smiling back at her.
"That's good to know," she said, tilting her head to kiss the palm of the hand that was now cupping her face. "Because I love you, too," she proceeded, staring straight into his eyes again. "Very, very, very, much," she finished, punctuating each word with a light kiss on his lips.
Cole leaned down to capture her lips again, but this time they were interrupted by Piper's calling from the kitchen:
"Phoebe! Phone call!"
Phoebe sighed and rolled her eyes; then she smiled and pecked Cole on the lips once more.
"Hold that thought," she said as she stood up. "I'll get it here!" she yelled towards the kitchen.
"Hello," she said as she picked up the phone. "Hi, Elaine!" she greeted, smiling as she recognized her co-worker's voice.
Cole watched her for a while, smiling at the way she paced back and forth as far as the phone cord allowed her, but as it became clear that Elaine was going to give Phoebe a full report of her date of last night, he stood up, knowing that this would be a long phone call.
When Phoebe saw him head out of the room she gave him an alarmed look and made a move to stop him.
"Kitchen," he said, pointing at the door. "Piper is there."
As she nodded and blew him a kiss, he smiled and left the room, stopping only to kiss her forehead as he walked past her.
Piper took the cake out of the oven and placed it on the kitchen table. As she caught the movement with the corner of her eye, she raised her eyes from the cake to see Cole standing at the doorway, watching her.
"Hey," she said, quietly.
"Hey," he said, putting his hands in his pockets and leaning on the doorframe.
They stood like that for an awkward moment, staring at each other with some uneasiness, until Piper picked up a bowl that was resting on the counter and started to gingerly spread chocolate topping over the cake.
"So," she said after a few seconds, with her eyes trained on the cake, "are you still upset with me for spilling the beans with dad?"
"Well..." Cole said, "are you still upset with me for thinking you would send a vengeance demon after me?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Piper asked, taking her eyes off the cake to give him an uncertain look. "That we're even?"
"No. It means... hum... I guess, that we both know that even if sometimes people screw up, it doesn't mean that they don't care about each other. 'Cause..." -- he took his hands off his pockets, seemed not to know what to do with them, and finally dug them into his pockets again -- "we do. Care." -- he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, casting her a sheepish glance -- "Right?"
Piper couldn't help but smile at the tall man, twice her size, and several times her age, who was standing before her, nervously waiting for her reaction. She knew that this was quite a big step for Cole, to talk about his feelings for someone other than Phoebe and Ben, and Piper found it endearing that the man who had looked death in the eye more than once without blinking might experience such fear of rejection. Yet she could understand why this was unfamiliar terrain to him: evil didn't have to worry about rejection, since you can't be rejected if you don't give yourself first.
"Yes, Cole," she said, softly. "We do care about each other."
Cole let out his breath with a short, almost inaudible sigh of relief, and took a couple of steps, closing the gap between them. As he stood before Piper, he made a move towards her and then stepped back with a slightly puzzled look on his face. Piper looked at him, intrigued, and noticed that he was staring at her stomach, frowning.
"Are you HUGE!" Cole exclaimed. He cautiously circled her very pregnant belly until he could carefully put his arms around her for an awkward hug.
Piper considered taking offense at his outburst regarding her looks, but she had to admit that she was indeed huge, and since all the mood swings and insecurities that usually followed pregnancy were, in her case, part of Leo's bundle of joy, she wasn't particularly sensitive about comments on her size, and could take them lightly. So, she giggled as she snaked one arm around Cole's waist and reached out to fondle his shoulder with her free hand.
"Melinda is big," she corrected him, nevertheless. "I'm just making room for her."
Cole chuckled and kissed the top of her head before pulling back, and she asked, smiling:
"Wanna scrape the bowl before I wash it?"
"Sure!" he promptly said, reaching out for the chocolate smeared bowl.
Cole sat at the kitchen table, took the spoon that Piper handed him and proceeded to scrape the chocolate mix off the bowl, while she started to wash the utensils that she had just used.
"Do you want some help?" he asked after some time.
"Please don't!" Piper exclaimed, raising her hands with feign horror. "You've already broken enough dishes this month."
"Now, that was just rude!" protested the man who had broken two cups, one plate and three glasses during the past twenty days.
"Yeah, right," she said, with a mocking smile. "Just finish your chocolate so that I can wash the bowl."
"You're an extremely bossy woman, you know," he muttered, giving her a reproachful look. "Even for the Halliwell standards."
"Big sister's privilege..." she lilted, lightly, while turning her attention to the dishes again.
"Yeah, right! Piper, I'm one hundred and nineteen years old, in case you have forgotten," Cole said, with an amused smile.
"Whatever," she said, turning around to face him. "You married my little sister. Besides," she added, giggling, "it doesn't exactly help your case when you have chocolate all over your face."
Cole took the paper towel she was offering and used it to rub his face clean, keeping his composure the best he could, while she finished, with a mocking smile:
"You're stuck with me, little brother. Get over it."
With that, Piper turned towards the sink again, while Cole made a big deal of showing his resignation letting out a dramatic heavy sigh.
"What time is it?" Piper asked, ignoring his taunting.
"It's..." -- Cole frowned and tapped lightly on his watch.
"It's dead," he muttered. Then, glancing at the wall clock, he said: "It's two thirty."
He gave his watch an annoyed look and said:
"I can't believe it's dead: I just had the battery changed..."
"Oh, no!" Piper exclaimed, only then realizing what he was talking about. "I'm sorry, Cole! I should have unfrozen your watch earlier, but with all that happened I completely forgot."
Cole gave her an intrigued look and she explained:
"Whenever I freeze anything that has a battery, if I don't unfreeze it right away, the battery dies; I don't know why, but it does."
"Piper, when did you freeze my watch?" he asked, puzzled.
"I didn't specifically freeze your watch, silly," she said. "I froze the entire room, just in case there were other demons."
When Cole still didn't understand, she added, slightly impatient:
"At the new house, when the vengeance demon attacked!"
"You froze everything but me?" he said, raising his eyebrows. "Well, congratulations."
Now it was Piper's turn to look puzzled, and he said:
"Isn't that what you had been practicing for the last two weeks? Freeze the entire room but one single person?"
"Yes, but..." -- suddenly, Piper burst into laughter, waving her head, and Cole gave her a perplexed look.
"What?" he said.
"Cole, I can't freeze you!"
"Yes, you can," he said. "You..."
"Not any more, you dope!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands to the air. "Good witches don't freeze!"
"Good witches don't... Oh!" -- Cole's eyes opened wide as comprehension sank in.
"I'm a good witch," he muttered, a smile forming on his lips. "I'm a good witch; you can't freeze me any more."
His smile opened wider as he added:
"You can freeze Leo, but you can't freeze me!"
"Yeah, I knew you'd love that..." Piper sighed, smiling and shaking her head.
"Love what?" Paige said, entering the kitchen.
"Piper can't freeze me," Cole said with a self-satisfied grin that made Piper roll her eyes.
"Big deal!" Paige sneered.
"Easy for you to say," Cole said, "because she can't freeze you, either. But she can freeze Leo," he added, smugly.
"Hey! Is that chocolate?" Paige said, not all that interested in boys' rivalries.
"It depends," Cole said, quickly putting the bowl out of her reach.
"Depends on what?" Paige said, placing her hands on her hips.
"Well... do you still hate me?" he asked slyly, watching her with squinted eyes.
"If I say that I do, will you share the chocolate with me as a peace offer?" she asked, warily.
"Ha!" Cole scoffed. "I won't waste my chocolate on the enemy!"
"Are you childish!" Paige exclaimed, giving him a contemptuous look.
"Maybe," Cole calmly said, turning his attention back to the chocolate, "but I have the chocolate."
"Well, I don't hate you," Paige admitted as she pulled a chair and sat across the table from him, resting her elbows on the table and her chin on her crossed hands. "I find you annoying and irritating," she proceeded casually, "but I don't hate you. What about you?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "Do you hate me?"
"Nope," Cole said, pushing the bowl towards her over the table. "But I do find you a pain, sometimes."
"I can live with that," Paige said, starting to work on the chocolate mix.