Note #1: Sorry, guys, I know I've been taking longer than usual to update. Thank you for hanging around; I'll do my best to make it worth the waiting. :-)

Note #2: LuckilyCharmedGirl, I'd have sent you a note, but you didn't add an email address to your profile. I took a look at your story Masked, as you asked, and I left a review there. It's an interesting premise you have there, I really liked the idea.

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When Leo orbed in, a few minutes later, Cole and Paige were still sitting at the kitchen table, while Piper was standing before the supply cabinet, taking a few items from inside and placing them on the counter.

He watched for a moment as Cole and Paige discussed the best way to destroy the vengeance demon's power center; he gestured his chin towards them, giving Piper an inquisitive look, and she responded with a slight nod of her head. Leo smiled and sighed inwardly in relief: lunch had been awkwardly silent, with everyone mulling over the things that had been said that morning. He and Cole had cleared the air while Phoebe was upstairs with Ben, and just by looking at Cole, swinging on his chair and lightly pondering the merits of Piper's power to explode things versus Phoebe's fire balls, Leo could tell that he and Phoebe had already worked out their issues: after living under the same roof with Phoebe and Cole for almost two years, Leo knew very well the sulking mood Cole would get in after an argument with Phoebe.

Piper was always ready and willing to make peace, so that had left only Paige, and although Leo usually let her and Cole settle their differences on their own time, with a vengeance demon lurking around that might lead to deadly consequences. As the Whitelighter of both parties, he would have intervened if they hadn't worked it out by themselves, and God knew he was glad that his help wasn't needed: Leo had learned from painful experience that it was wiser not to meddle in Cole and Paige's mutual issues.

"Any news from your stalker?" he asked Cole, opening the refrigerator and taking an apple from inside.

"Nope," Cole said, watching as the Whitelighter took a knife from the silverware drawer, pulled a chair, turned it around and sat backwards on it.

Piper glanced at the wall clock behind her: it was two forty five.

"Piper can't freeze me," Cole blurted out after a moment.

Piper looked at the clock again and smiled. Ten full seconds.

"I know," Leo said, calmly cutting the apple in two and starting to pick the seeds out. "Good witches don't freeze."

"You can't freeze a good witch," Leo said again, keeping his eyes on the apple. "But," he added softly, "if you're his Whitelighter, you can sense him."

Cole's smile faded as he gasped in shock, and Piper could barely hold back the laughter as she looked from him to Leo, whose contented grin showed that this time the Whitelighter had been one step ahead of his charge; she wondered how long Leo had been patiently waiting to use that line.

"Are you sure about that?" Cole asked, giving Leo a suspicious look.

"You bet," Leo said, clearly thrilled to have the upper hand.

When the meaning of Leo's words sank in, Cole's eyes opened wide in shock.

"You've already done that!" he exclaimed, and the outraged look on his face was all it took to make Piper finally burst into laughter.

"Come on, Cole," Leo said, he, too, fighting laughter. "It's not like I'm watching your every movement. I've checked on you a few times during the past couple of weeks, that's all; I do that to all my charges every now and then, just to make sure they're fine."

"Can I sense him, too?" Paige asked, grinning.

"I doubt it," Leo said, with an amused smile. "You're not his Whitelighter, nor a blood relative."

"Well, there's only one way to find out..." she said, slyly.

"Don't you dare," Cole snarled at Paige.

"Try and stop me, magic boy," she taunted him.

"Enough, the two of you!" Piper said, but it was hard to keep a stern face when she was laughing heartily.

"What's going on here?" Phoebe asked, entering the room, and giving the four people there an intrigued look.

"Ah, just the usual..." Piper said lightly, pointing at Cole and Paige.

Phoebe sat on Cole's lap and gave Paige a mocking reproachful look. Before she could say anything, though, Piper turned to Cole and asked:

"Cole, have you finished reading that book?"

"Uh, yes," Cole said with a straight face.

Piper gave him a skeptical look, and he admitted:

"Part of it. Sort of."

Piper sighed and motioned for him to approach.

"Come here," she said.

Phoebe slipped from his knee and sat on a chair next to Leo, and Cole stood up and walked towards Piper. He stood by her side before the counter and gave her an inquisitive look.

"Tell me what are those," Piper demanded, motioning towards a bunch of tiny white petals that lay on the counter, and Cole grimaced.

"Petals?" he said.

"Cole..." -- Piper shot him a reproachful look -- "Come on, you're not even trying!"

Cole gave Phoebe a helpless look, and she took pity on him and silently mouthed the answer.

"Phoebe's helping!" Paige promptly shrieked; she loved to see Cole squirm under Piper's questioning, and had no intention of letting Phoebe spoil the fun.

"Phoebe, stop!" Piper said, scowling at Phoebe. "So...?" she said, turning to Cole again.

"Mayflower petals," Cole said.

He was relieved to see her nod in approval, but his reprieve didn't last long.

"And what do mayflowers mean?"

Seeing his puzzled look, Piper asked, sternly:

"Cole, have you at least opened that book?"

"Piper, it was 'The Language of the Flowers'!" he protested. "Couldn't you at least have given me a manly book to read?"

"Paige?" Piper asked, ignoring his protests.

"Welcoming," Paige promptly said, giving Cole a victorious smile that he returned with a glare.

"Now, this one is easy," Piper proceeded, eyeing Cole.

She pointed to some branches lying next to the mayflower petals and he sighed, understanding that it'd still take a while before he was off the hook.

He gave the branches a critical look and said:

"Cinnamon tree?"

"Right. And it means...?"

Cole scratched his head, looking at the branches as if they could tell him the answer. He hadn't indeed opened the darn book at all, and now he wondered what the hell cinnamon might mean.

"Hum... Strength?"

"Forgiveness." Not even giving him time to breathe, Piper pointed at a bowl full of pink petals. "What about those?"

Cole could feel a drop of cold sweat rolling down his back. He looked at the petals for a while, took a handful of them from the bowl and smelled them.

"Pink verbena?" he said, without much hope.

"Right," Piper said, to his surprise and relief. "And what does it mean?"

"Ah... hum..." -- he looked at Phoebe again, but this time Paige was alert.

"Cheating, cheating!" she lilted, and Piper spun around and gave Phoebe a warning look.

Understanding that he was on his own now, Cole looked at the petals again. So, pink, huh? That looked girlish.

"Romance?" he tried.

Piper sighed heavily.

"Family union! You are so gonna read that book, Cole!"

Cole shuffled his feet and Piper pointed at a bunch of leaves.

"Now..."

"Piper!..." he pleaded, but she squinted her eyes and gave him a stern look.

Cole sighed heavily and looked at the deep green leaves she was pointing at.

"Hum... Sweet basil?"

"And what does it mean?"

Cole furrowed his brow, desperately trying to remember anything of what Piper had been teaching him for the last couple of weeks. He could hear Paige giggle, and with the corner of his eye he saw Phoebe elbow her. Sweet basil, sweet basil, sweet basil...

"Good wishes?"

"Exactly," Piper said, nodding. "See? It wasn't all that bad, was it?" Cole grunted in response and she added, waving her finger at him: "Well, it wouldn't have been if you had studied."

"Now you're gonna mix them all together," she commanded.

"Piper, give him a break," Phoebe said, smiling as she started to stand up. "I can do that."

"No, Phoebe, that would shift the balance," Piper said, motioning for her to sit again. "I want Cole's magic for the ingredients, and ours for the spell."

"My magic?" Cole asked, suddenly worried. "What do you mean, my... What are we doing?"

"You'll see," Piper calmly said. "Just mix the ingredients."

She had to bite her lips to avoid laughing at the way his attitude towards the branches and petals promptly changed. He touched them warily and asked, giving them a suspicious look:

"What should I do?"

"Break the cinnamon branches in small pieces, and tear up the basil leaves. Use your hands, no scissors or knives. Then throw everything into that bowl." -- Piper pointed at a large white bowl that was resting on the counter, next to the ingredients. "Mayflower first, then cinnamon -- make sure the branches are broken in really small pieces -- pink verbena, and finally the basil leaves. And mix everything together."

Leo leaned slightly forward and watched with interest as Cole nervously worked on his very first potion, handling the ingredients with a wariness that made the Whitelighter smile. When Cole finished, he showed the bowl to Piper, and she nodded in approval and said, pointing at a leather bag about the size of a lemon:

"Fill the bag with the mixture."

After Cole did as he was told, Piper took the bag from his hand, closed it tight and slipped a black cord through a small ring sewed to the bag.

"Now, step aside for a minute. Phoebe, Paige," she called, motioning for her sisters to join her.

Cole promptly backed away from the counter, but the spark of interest in his eyes was evident as he watched Phoebe and Paige join Piper and start to chant in one voice:

"Three stand here as one,
to close the circle, make it strong."

"One for the family," Piper said, reaching out for one end of the cord and tying it in a tight knot.

"One for the coven," Paige said, doing the same with the other end.

"One for the love," Phoebe said, tying the two ends of the cord together.

Together, they finished, their hands hovering over the bag that rested on the counter:

"When evil comes to claim its prey,
The Power of Three shall keep it away."

"Here," Piper said, taking the bag with its black cord and giving it back to Cole. "Hang it around your neck."

Cole gave her a puzzled look and she rolled her eyes in mock impatience:

"Come on, Cole, it won't bite, you know!"

"And this would be?..." he asked, whilst obliging.

"It's an amulet, for crying out loud!" Paige shrieked, not quite as patient as Piper.

"An amulet?" -- he looked from her to Piper, and then to Phoebe.

"It was Piper and Paige's idea," Phoebe said, smiling.

Cole looked at Piper again, and she explained, patting his chest:

"Welcoming, forgiveness, family union, good wishes. That should help protect you against vengeance."

Cole held the amulet in his hand and took a closer look at it.

"It smells good," he said, smiling. "I mean, no offense, but usually your potions smell like something that's been dead for a long time."

"Well, they're usually made of things that have been dead for a long time..." Piper reasoned. "Anyway, I did my best to ensure that the amulet would repel only vengeance demons, not other members of the family."

"Yeah," Phoebe said, hugging him from behind, "specially the one member of the family who shares a bed with you."

Cole chuckled slightly and put one arm around her, while he used his free hand to gingerly slide the amulet into his shirt.

"Didn't you have anything to keep annoying sisters in law away?" he asked, turning to Piper again with a smug smile.

"You'd better be referring to Paige," Piper said, mock glaring at him.

"Hey!" Paige exclaimed, indignantly.

Just as she and Cole were about to start an argument about who would be more than glad to keep their distance from whom, the phone rang. Leo reached out for it and answered:

"Hello. Who??" -- he frowned slightly -- "I'm sorry, I think you've got the wrong... oh, wait!" -- he handed the phone to Cole -- "It's for, hum, Belthazor."

Cole gave the others a sheepish smile as he received the cordless phone from Leo.

"Anyanka? Hey! Long time no see," he said, his smile widening in a way that made Phoebe raise a slightly intrigued eyebrow.

He leaned on the counter and the others watched him, listening with great curiosity to his side of the conversation.

"Hum! Is that so? Well, I don't go by Belthazor anymore, either."

"..."

"Cole. Cole Turner."

"..."

"Well, let's just say you're not the only one who's human now."

"..."

"No, I mean, completely human."

"..."

"Hum, it's a long story... Listen, where do you live now?"

"..."

"Sunnydale? Isn't that where the Hell Mouth... Oh, really? The Magic Box? Well, I'm impres... You're WHAT???"

Cole dismissed the interrogative looks directed towards him with a wave of his hand, while on the other end of the line Anya seemed to be on a roll.

"Anyanka, Anya, hold on for a second, will you?" he said, trying to bring the conversation back to his problem. "I'm in kind of a situation here and I think you may have some information I need."

"..."

"No, nothing evil, I... Wait, you're friends with who??? Then again, never mind: this is not the point now. Listen, I was wondering if you could take a few days off and stop by San Francisco?"

"..."

"Yes, Anya, I'll love to see the ring, but... Of course you can bring... Yes, I'm sure he's... Look, can you come over or not?"

When Cole finally managed to give her the address of the manor and hang on the phone, he felt spent: demon or human, the girl was still the same chatterbox he remembered.

"So...?" Phoebe said, giving him an inquisitive look as he sat by her side again.

"They'll be here on Tuesday."

"They?" Piper said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, she and her, hum, fiancé," Cole said, looking slightly puzzled himself.

"She's engaged? The girl who used to avenge scorned women for a living?" Paige said, amused.

"Trust me, I'm every bit as surprised as you are," Cole said, shrugging. "But, yes, she's engaged, and she sounded pretty excited about it. Which reminds me," he added, with an amused smile, "when she gets here, make sure you tell her how beautiful her ring is: it'll break her heart if you don't."

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Later that day, when Phoebe went upstairs to check on Ben, she was surprised to find papers, pictures, magazines and several other small items scattered on the floor.

"Wow!" she uttered, frowning slightly and giving a surprised look around the room.

"What was that? A hurricane?" she said to Ben, who was sitting in his crib, looking at her with a big grin.

"Wooooo!" Ben said, gleefully waving his hands above his head.

"Oh, I see," Phoebe said, smiling as she closed the open window, through which a soft breeze was now blowing. "So, a big wind blew in here, huh? Wooooo!" she mimicked him.

"Wooooo!" Ben said again, grinning. He was very proud of the nice wind he had summoned earlier. Nice, funny wind. As mommy scooped him up and smacked a sound kiss on his chubby, pillow marked cheek, he laughed, happy, and wondered if he would be able to summon the wind again for her.

Before he could start, though, Phoebe sat him on her bed and started to make funny faces that made him laugh, baby talking to him and keeping him distracted as she quickly put his shoes on. By the time she left the room with the toddler in her arms, happily chattering all the way downstairs, Ben had forgotten all about the wind. For the time being.