Note #1: First of all, I'm so sorry for the delay! I lost the entire chapter due to a hard disk failure, and had to rewrite it. The good thing is, I like this version much more than I liked the previous one. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. :-)

Note #2: Shel asked in her review if Buffy is in love with Spike. Right now Buffy is in a very confused place: she's been sleeping with Spike, but her friends don't know about it. He has told her that he loves her, but she refuses to acknowledge it, let alone to love him back: he's a vampire, he's evil, yada yada yada... So, does she love him? Opinions are divided: some viewers say she doesn't, others -- me included -- say that she's just in denial. The show writers... well, what do they know, anyway? ;-)

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"Do you think fish get bored?" Phoebe asked, watching as two angelfish slowly swam back and forth across the fish tank. "I know I would, if I had to spend my whole life inside a glass box."

"I don't think they're smart enough to get bored," Cole said, smiling as he hugged her from behind.

"Don't let Ben hear you call his fish dumb," Phoebe said, giggling. She leaned slightly back, feeling his muscular chest against her back and relishing in the strong, loving arms that held her.

"Any creature that isn't smart enough to stop eating before they die of overeating is way past dumb," Cole stated, leaning down to nibble at her earlobe.

"The fish are watching!..." she protested, half joking, whilst tilting her head to give him better access.

"So much for their being bored," he said as he turned her around to face him and lowered his mouth to hers.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Paige exclaimed as she and Piper entered the living room, coming from the kitchen. "Save your energy for Liusaidh!"

"We need to start locking that door," Cole said, mock glaring at Paige, and Phoebe playfully slapped his arm.

"ItÆs a shame," Piper said, placing her hands on her hips and looking around the room. "The house isn't even fully furnished yet, and we're already gonna start trashing it."

"At least there's plenty of space to fight," Paige reasoned, placing the cardboard box she had brought on the sofa.

"Well, it was just a matter of time until it had a baptism of fire," Cole said, with a sigh. "Just try not to destroy anything that we still haven't finished paying for."

"Which is...?" Piper asked, taking a large plastic bag full of powdered saffron out of the box and handing it to Phoebe.

"Pretty much everything," Phoebe admited, receiving the bag from her sister's hands.

She followed Paige as her younger sister took five candles out of the box and walked to the middle of the room: the sofa had been pushed against the wall, and so had been two puff chairs and the coffee table. Paige placed the candles in a large circle in the middle of the room, and Phoebe began to gingerly spill powdered saffron inside the circle, drawing the symbols that formed Liusaidh's sigil. When Leo orbed in, a few minutes later, she was already putting the plastic bag back in the cardboard box.

"So," she asked him, "how did you leave him?"

"Happy as could be," Leo said, smiling. "But a major sugar rush is to be expected," he warned her and Cole. "Vanessa rented the Snow White DVD and, when I left, Ben was snuggled on the couch with her, with a half eaten brownie in his hands, singing "Hi Ho Hi Ho" at the top of his lungs.

"Baby, we need to set some ground rules for when Darryl and Vanessa babysit," Phoebe said, turning to Cole.

Cole nodded, sighing. Darryl and Vanessa were crazy about Ben, and they managed to spoil him even worse than Victor did.

"He's gonna be a basket case tonight, isn't he?" he asked, grimacing.

"You bet," Phoebe sighed. "How do you think Anya would feel about baby-sitting another Turner?" she asked hopefully.

Before Cole could answer, they heard Xander's car pull up in the driveway and park behind Cole and Phoebe's Buick. As they all went outside to meet the Scooby Gang, they saw the girls coming out of the car while Xander turned off the engine.

"So," Anya said to Cole, looking at the new house, "this is your house?"

"Yes," Cole said with a proud grin, "I'll give you the tour when we're done with Liusaidh."

"I thought Spike was coming, too," Phoebe said as she saw Xander come out of the car and close the driver's door.

As if on key, they heard a thud coming from the back of the car. Followed by another one. And another one.

"Spike!" Xander exclaimed, slapping his hand on his forehead in mock embarrassment. "Right! Almost forgot about him!"

He walked around the car and opened the baggage compartment, letting out a very upset vampire.

"Just because I can't breath," Spike said, glaring at him, "it doesn't mean I can't notice how badly your car smells."

"Just be glad I bothered to park out of the sun," Xander said flatly.

"Come on, people, let's get inside," Piper broke in, ushering them through the door, "we have a demon to summon."

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"So," Buffy said, once they were in the living room, "what's the plan?"

"Plan A," Phoebe said, "is basically: we summon Liusaidh, Piper freezes her, and Paige calls for the necklace."

"And when it fails," Anya said, "what's plan B?"

"If it fails," Paige said, "it's up to the rest of you to provide a distraction while Phoebe grabs the necklace."

"Why Phoebe?" Buffy asked.

"Great fighter," Piper said, counting on her fingers, "not pregnant, not cursed, can levitate and catch Liusaidh by surprise."

"You do know that plan A won't work, don't you?" Anya said, tugging on Cole's sleeve and pulling him towards the corner of the room.

"Even if it's a fat chance," Cole reasoned, "it can't hurt to try."

"I don't like this," Anya said, frowning.

"Well, I don't like the fact that you're here today with no powers to protect yourself," he retorted, "but that didn't stop you from coming, did it?"

Before Anya could reply, Piper called out:

"No doubts? Everyone's ready?" When the others nodded, she proceeded: "Then it's summoning time."

While Paige lit the candles, Leo went stand behind Piper, ready to orb her out if needed. Piper wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of leaving before the battle was over, but she knew that she should, if things got out of control and Melinda was in danger.

Meanwhile, Cole walked towards Phoebe, who was across the room from Piper.

"Be careful," he said, kissing her lightly on the lips.

"You, too," she said. "And remember, if things go wrong, let Paige orb you out: Liusaidh won't hurt us if you're not here."

"I know," he sighed, not at all happy with the idea of leaving, either. "But since your team will be the only one without the means to orb out, I want both Buffy and Spike to fight by your side."

He unwillingly left her side and crossed the room towards Paige, who had just finished lighting the candles, while Buffy and Spike took their places next to Phoebe. When Anya stalked towards him, followed by Xander, Cole frowned, knowing that next to him would be the most dangerous place to be: the look Anya gave him, though, was enough to tell him that she wouldn't be convinced to stay across the room, next to Leo and Piper. Leo then motioned for Willow and Dawn to join him and Piper, and with that everyone was in place, three groups standing around the room with the candles and Liusaidh's sigil in the center.

Piper raised a piece of paper containing the summoning spell, and as Phoebe and Paige did the same, the three sisters read the spell, and everyone held their breaths as the air flickered inside the circle, and the candles started to burn out, one by one. The last candle didn't burn out, though; instead, the other candles started to light up again all by themselves, one after the other, while everyone watched in bewilderment.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Willow asked, unsure.

"I don't think so," Paige said, frowning. "What's..."

"Oh, crap!" Anya exclaimed, her eyes growing wide when the powdered saffton inside the circle started to move, forming different symbols.

"What?" Phoebe asked.

"Brace yourselves," Anya said, nervously. "That's D'Hoffryn's sigil."

"Who's..."

Phoebe never finished the sentence as all the candles burnt out at the same time, and a loud thunder announced the arrival of a tall, bald demon, with a wrinkled face, white beard and mustache and three pairs of pointed cat-like ears, wearing a long, dark robe. Piper tried to freeze him, but the Head of Vengeance barely paid her any attention, saying coldly:

"Now, don't be stupid, and I won't have to kill you. We're only here for..." -- he clapped his hands, and Liusaidh immediately appeared by his side -- "...who?"

"That one," Liusaidh said, pointing at Cole.

When D'Hoffryn turned towards Cole, he saw Anya standing by his side, and flicked his tongue in annoyance, giving her a reproachful look:

"So that's how the witches discovered Liusaidh's sigil."

Anya flinched, but sustained his look, and after a while D'Hoffryn cracked a somewhat amused smile.

"Oh, Anyanka, you spirited little imp you!..." he sighed, shaking his head.

Liusaidh huffed, glaring at Anya, while D'Hoffryn watched them with an indulgent smile.

"Shouldn't a vengeance demon be able to deal with her tasks all by herself?" Anya asked D'Hoffryn, whilst frowning at Liusaidh.

"What can I say?" D'Hoffryn sighed, opening his arms and giving Anya a pleasant, almost shepish smile. "I care about my girls. Couldn't just let this little one be summoned by the infamous Charmed Ones. But," he added, "she will do the job all by herself. She knows what's best for her." -- the smile was still there, but suddenly it wasn't pleasant at all.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, Paige decided that it was a good time to call for the necklace.

"Necklace!" she said, reaching out her hand.

The necklace didn't orb to her waiting hand, though, and Paige yelped in surprise when she was sent flying towards the wall by a forceful blow. Cole and Xander ducked and dodged her, but Anya didn't move fast enough, and Paige's elbow hit her hard on the face, knocking her to the floor while Paige flew over her head and crashed against the wall, falling limp to the floor.

When Leo orbed towards Paige, D'Hoffryn waved his hand towards Piper, Dawn and Willow. The others gasped in horror when Piper stumbled backwards, frantically waving her arms, but Buffy leaned her foot on the arm of the sofa and pushed hard, sending it sliding accross the room just in time for Piper to land heavily on it.

Meanwhile, D'Hoffryn seemed to consider that his job was done and teletransported himself to the bottom of the stairs, where he sat on the steps and prepared to watch the battle with the contented look of a man watching his favorite show on TV.

Leo had just finished healing Paige, and together they orbed to Willow and Dawn, who had missed the sofa and were lying unconscious on the floor. While they healed the girls, Spike decided that plan B was in order: he vamped and ran snarling towards Liusaidh, circling her and causing her to turn her back to Phoebe. Phoebe then seized the opportunity and ran towards her, too, reaching out for the chain from which the necklace hung. As soon as her fingers closed around the chain, she quickly levitated, intending to be out of Liusaidh's reach before the demoness could react. She suddenly felt a strong hand grab her by the ankle, though, and yelped in surprise when Liusaidw swang her, using her as a baseball bat to hit Spike and sending them both flying towards Xander.

Caught by surprise, Phoebe let go of the chain, and it flew accross the room and fell into the fish tank, scaring rainbowfish, green swordtails and angelfish and making them hide amidst the ornamental plants. Anya jumped back to her feet and darted towards the fish tank, and so did Liusaidh. The ex-vengeance demon got there a split second before the vengeance demon did, but when Anya reached out for the necklace her former co-worker grabbed her by the hair, exclaiming angrily:

"Bitch!"

Liusaidh yanked Anya's head back and shoved her to the floor. When she tried to dip her hand into the water to pick up the necklace, though, Cole motioned his hand towards the fish tank and commanded:

"Freeze!"

Liusaidh howled in pain when her hand hit a solid ice block; she turned to Cole with fiery eyes and, before Anya could stop her, launched herself towards him. As she grabbed the front of his shirt, though, her hand closed around the amulet that Piper, Phoebe and Paige had made for him, and she screamed in pain and quickly let go of him, while he stumbled backwards until he reached the wall behind him.

"What the hell was that?" she exclaimed, staring at her badly burnt hand.

"The Power of Three." -- Phoebe's angry voice came from behind her, and Liusaidh's shoulder was grabbed and she was swirled around to meet Phoebe's fist. When she fell to the floor, though, D'Hoffryn flicked his hand and Phoebe found herself flying accross the room. She hit Buffy, who was coming to her help, and the two girls fell on top of each other, while D'Hoffryn said, with a hint of impatience in his voice:

"Just do it, Liusaidh."

Liusaidh got back to her feet and turned to Cole, saying in a low, growling voice:

"Wish granted."

"NO!" Phoebe cried out in horror when the portal was opened behind Cole's feet and he was dragged into the abyss. Piper desperately tried to freeze him, even though she knew it wouldn't work, and Leo tried to orb after him, only to find himself orbing out and then back in the same place, unable to help Cole just as Victor had wished he'd be. He was startled when Anya grabbed his arm forcefully and demanded:

"Rescue me."

Without waiting for an answer, she made a running dash towards the portal through which Cole had just disappeared and, before anyone could stop her or even realize what she was doing, she dove head first towards the abyss of hell.

As Leo understood what she meant, he orbed out again, this time following her. Since Victor had only wished that he couldn't help Cole, he didn't find any resistance and quickly disappeared through the portal, too. When Liusaidh understood what had just happened, she screamed in fury; before she could do something to counter attack, though, Xander flung himself towards her, bumping heavily into her and knocking her to the floor.

Paige looked at the necklace that was stuck in the ice inside the fish tank, and it dawned on her that right now there was no bond to break, since it wasn't in Liusaidh's possession. She took a deep breath and reached out for it again:

"Necklace!"

When the necklace appeared in her hand, she lost no time in throwing it to Piper, who raised her hands and angrily exploded it in midair.

"NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Liusaidh's howling scream overpowered the chiming sound of Leo's orb as he, Anya and Cole collapsed to the floor in a disgruntled heap, and Piper, Xander and Phoebe darted towards them. Cole had barely sat up and Phoebe was already in his arms, throwing her arms around his neck, while Anya was lifted from the floor and wrapped in Xander's embrace. Piper couldn't lower her very pregnant body to the floor, so Leo simply threw his arms around her legs and rested his head against her belly, closing his eyes and feeling her trembling hands caress his face and his hair, while Melinda kicked vigorously against his face, as if she, too, wanted to tell daddy how scared they both had been for him.

The moment was broken by the sound of D'Hoffryn's clapping hands. Ignoring the looks of fear and anger turned towards him, he stood up and walked towards them, unabashed.

"Bravo," he said, smiling at Anya, and Xander held her tighter, his arms wrapped protectively around her. "You never cease to surprise me, my dear."

Anya pulled away from Xander slightly, just enough to look D'Hoffryn in the eyes.

"It stops here," she said, looking very tired, but very determined, too. "The wish was made to Liusaidh: only she could grant it. That's the rule."

"That's the rule," D'Hoffryn repeated, nodding his head in agreement. "The curse is no more."

"What about me?" Liusaidh whined. She was sitting on the floor, with the broken pieces of the necklace in her hands.

"Sorry," D'Hoffryn said coldly, "I don't work with humans." Then, turning to Anya again, he added: "See you at the wedding."

With that, he vanished in the air.

"You invited him to the wedding??" Leo asked, giving Anya a flabbergasted look. He stood on shaking legs, one arm around Piper's shoulders.

"Well," Anya said, shrugging, "I invited Halfrek and some other vengeance demons. I couldn't leave him out: that would've been awfully rude."

"Rude," Leo echoed in a weak voice. He opened his mouth, closed it again, then looked at Piper, giving her a helpless look. "That would've been rude."

"Vengeance demons are different," she sighed tiredly.

"You jealous bitch!" Liusaidh suddenly hissed, standing up and turning angrily to Anya. "Because you lost your job, you want everyone else to lose theirs, too!"

"Oh, please!" Anya snorted. "I didn't make you lose your job: you lost it because of your own stupid carelessness."

"My stupid carelessness??" Liusaidh exclaimed. "I'm not the one who once turned the wrong guy into a cockroach!"

"Oh, for Hades' sake!" Anya exclaimed angrily, unconsciously reverting to the vocabulary of her demon days. "That was almost five hundred years ago, can't you let it go? How could I know that he had a twin?"

"I knew," Liusaidh said.

"I knew," Anya said, mimicking her and rolling her eyes. "Well, at least I never asked D'Hoffryn to do my job."

"Like you had to ask," Liusaidh said with a sneer. "You were his favorite: it was always, Anyanka this, and Anyanka that, telling everyone how amazing his golden girl was. He always assigned you the easiest tasks, and very conveniently closed his eyes to your mistakes."

"You rancorous, lying bitch!" Anya exclaimed, furious.

"Ass kisser!" Liusaidh spat back, and Anya gasped, her eyes widening in shock and outrage.

"Take it back!" she demanded.

"Make me!"

Before Xander could stop her, Anya charged against Liusaidh, reaching out for the other woman's hair. When Liusaidh shrieked in pain and anger, trying to scratch Anya's face with her long fingernails, Piper raised her hands and froze them both, exclaiming in exasperation:

"Oh, for crying out loud! A little dignity here, please! Bursting into flames, cursing and threating us, that's acceptable. But a cat fight?!?" -- she grimaced, giving the frozen girls an incredulous look -- "What's next? Soon we'll have the relatives of the demons we vanquish seeking compensation for moral damages!"

Paige sighed and held Liusaidh's arm, orbing her accross the room so that Piper could unfreeze the two girls. Liusaidh still scratched the air in front of her before she realized that Anya was no longer there; then she huffed, frustrated, and said, glaring at Anya:

"Fine! I'm out of here! When does the next train to Tir-na-Bea leave?"

Anya looked at Xander, who looked at Piper, who just shrugged.

"The train to where?" Phoebe asked.

As Liusaidh snorted and stalked towards the front door, Cole said, turning to Leo:

"Isn't it near Tir-nan-Og?"

"Is there a train from this town to Tir-nan-Og?" Liusaidh said, stopping on her tracks and looking at him. "That would do it."

"It's in a different realm!" Leo said.

"Gee, thank you for telling me that," Liusaidh scoffed, eyeballing him.

"You can't get there by train," Cole said.

"Of course I can!" Liusaidh said, impatiently. "I just need..." -- she suddenly stopped, giving him an incredulous look -- "Are you saying that there are no inter-realm railroads leaving this town?"

"Not just this town," Cole patiently explained. "This realm."

"WHAT!" Liusaidh shrieked. "How am I supposed to go home?"

"Leo," Piper said, running her hand accross her face, "can you orb her to what's-its-name-Bee before I forget that I'm not allowed to use my powers to hurt humans?"

"Sure," Leo said. Liusaidh quickly took a step back, giving him a suspicious look, and he added, rolling his eyes: "Whitelighters aren't allowed to hurt humans, either. No matter how badly they want to," he added under his breath.

"Just get me out of here," she said grouchly, holding out her hand.

Leo sighed and took her hand; when he orbed out with her, Spike said, raising a mocking eyebrow:

"Such a sweet girl."

"Are you okay?" Anya said, ignoring him and walking towards Cole.

"Yes," he said, smiling at her. "Th..." -- he gasped when her hand shot up, grabbing his ear and twisting it painfully -- "Ouch!!! Stop, Anya, no, stop it!"

It took Phoebe a couple of stunned seconds to react, but before she did anything, Anya said between clenched teeth, glaring at Cole:

"Yes. It hurts. To try!"

"Okay, okay, I know, I'm sorry..." -- Cole tried to swat her hand away, but she didn't let go of his ear and forced him to bend down closer instead -- "OUCH!"

"When I say 'no', it's not because I'm mean," she scolded him, "it's because I want what is best for you! Can't you understand that?"

"I do. I can. I'm sorry, Anya, please let go, you're gonna rip off my ear."

She huffed and let go of him, and Cole promptly straightened up, covering the offended ear with his hand. To add insult to injury, he could see the amused smiles that the others were trying to hide without much success -- or, in Spike's case, not trying at all. When he turned to Anya again, though, he found himself unable to be angry at her: the beautiful face that was turned towards him, still frowning, had a large bruise -- a result of Liusaidh's throwing her to the floor earlier -- and the eye that Paige's elbow had hit was almost entirely closed. And he bet she would have her share of nightmares on the days to come, just like he and Leo would.

"I'm sorry," he repeated softly, and this time he really meant it. "I should've listened to you."

He touched her face and added:

"Thank you, Anya. You never let me down."

"Oh, well..." Anya sighed, with a slightly embarassed shrugh. She patted his chest, saying: "I just didn't want anything bad to happen to you."

Paige cleared her throat and Anya turned around to look at her.

"For what it's worth," she said, giving Anya a sheepish smile, "I'm sorry, too. You were the vengeance demon expert, yet I didn't listen to your advice. Let me heal you: it's the least I can do."

While she healed Anya, Piper approached Cole. She stood before him for a moment, chewing her lower lip, then said with a teary voice:

"I'm not crying."

He nodded with a smile and gingerly put his arms around her, pulling her towards him and saying:

"Good girl."

Piper managed to maneuver herself and Melinda into his embrace and wrapped her arms around his waist, saying in whisper:

"I'm so glad you're here."

"So am I, big sister," he said, gently fondling her hair. "So am I."

He kissed her forehead and held her tight before letting go; before they broke the hug, though, Melinda decided to share the moment the only way she knew.

"Hey!" Cole protested, quickly taking a step back. "Tell her not to kick me," he said to Piper.

"Why?" she said, giggling. "She kicks me all the time."

Phoebe smiled when Cole let out a long suffering sigh: he seemed to be dealing with his near hell experience much better than he had the last time, and she was sure it had much to do with the fact that now he had a loving family that he knew would always be there for him when he needed them.

When Paige finished healing bruises and excoriations on Buffy, Xander and Phoebe, she walked towards Cole, too.

"Keep in mind that this is a one time event," she warned, giving him a stern look.

Then, before Cole could answer, she threw her arms around his neck. Cole was so surprised that he almost didn't react fast enough to hug her back before she pulled away. When he finally put his arms around her and held her tight, she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder:

"Hell is off limits to you: you're not allowed to go there ever again."

"I'll do my best," he said, smiling.

He kissed her forehead like he had done to Piper, and she pulled away, breaking the hug. Cole looked at Leo, who had just orbed back, and said with a small smile:

"Altough Leo is getting better at rescuing me from Hell: I'd say he's improved his time by a good ten seconds."

"Which is a lot of time to spend in Hell," Leo remarked, smiling as he walked towards Cole and slapped his shoulder. "But I'm with Paige in this one," he added, his hand still on Cole's shoulder as he sobered and looked his brother in law in the eyes. "No more Hell for you: I'll talk to Victor myself if it's necessary."

"I'll talk to dad," Phoebe said, putting her arms around Cole's waist, and he put one arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "It's about time he knows the part I played in that story."

"We'll both talk to him," Piper said. "This is not about you and Cole only: this is family business." Phoebe gave her an uncertain look, and Piper added, winking at her sister: "Besides, I'm pregnant. If dad yells at us, I'll just start to cry: that'll freak him out."

Leo chuckled slightly and touched his wife's face. As he looked around to see if anyone else needed healing, he noticed that Spike was limping painfully: the vampire noticed his stare, and tilted his head to the side, giving him a sardonic look.

"You can't heal evil," he said, flatly. "I know."

"Yeah," Leo said, nodding. He hesitated, then said, reaching out his hand: "But I can have the pendant."

Spike frowned, giving him a perplexed look, but Leo just held out his hand, and he finally took the chain that hung around his neck and placed in on the palm of the Whitelighter's hand. Leo silently hung the chain around his neck and slid the pendant into his shirt, ignoring the vampire's intrigued look. He didn't really like Spike; he liked him even less than he had liked Cole when this one had first started to fight by their side, trying to win the approval of Phoebe's family and to prove himself worthy of her love. But Leo was honest enough with himself to realize that his prejudice and lack of vision had almost cost a good man's life; what's more, it had almost damned a soul that otherwise could have been saved. Leo sighed: he didn't intend to be friends with Spike, but he would make damn well sure the vampire had the chance to show what he was made of before judging him.

"Sweetie," Phoebe said, putting her arm around Piper's shoulders, "you and Melinda should have some rest now. Why don't you go lie down for a little nap while we clean up this mess and fix us something to eat?"

"That'd be nice," Piper sighed. "But do you need everyone to help you here, or can I take my husband with me?" she asked, smiling at Leo.

"Paige," Leo said, taking Piper in his arms while Phoebe dismissed them both with a wave of her hand, "can you pick up Ben at Darryl's?"

"Sure," Paige said, smiling. "Should I go get him now?" she asked Phoebe.

"No, let's clean up this mess first," Phoebe said, looking around the room, that had powdered saffron everywhere. "I don't want him rolling on the floor and getting all... Oh my God, Cole, the fish!" she shrieked as her eyes fell on the fish tank.

"What about the... Oh, shit! Melt, melt!" Cole said, frantically waving his hand towards the fish tank.

The ice block promptly turned into water again, and the fish floated towards the surface, where they stood motionless, floating upside down.

"Oh, no! Did I kill them?" Cole said, rushing towards the fish tank.

Phoebe joined him, grimacing at the sight of the colorful little bodies floating helplessly in the water. As she looked at Cole, she was surprised to see how sorrowful he looked, and she held his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Oh, baby..." she sighed.

"Maybe they're just stressed," Dawn said, from behind them. Phoebe and Cole turned towards her, and she explained, blushing slightly: "I read that fish can sometimes float upside down when they're stressed. And sudden changes in water conditions can be very stressful for them."

"Dawnie, I don't think the fish were able to breathe while the water was frozen," Willow said, gently.

"They don't die right away when they're deprived of oxygen," Dawn said. "And some species can actually survive for some time out of the water. Carps, and, uh... catfishes... and bettas, I think..."

Buffy gave her an intrigued look, and she added with a hint of impatience:

"Well, it was a school project!"

"I think that green one over there is moving," Paige said, pointing at a swordtail that was opening and closing his mouth, as if gasping for air.

"So, what should we do?" Cole asked, anxiously.

"Well..." Dawn, said, giving the fish a critical look. "If you melted the ice, the water probably is still too cold for them. Can't you make it warmer?"

"I don't know," he said, unsure. "I've never done that. At least, not on purpose," he added, remembering previous night's incident.

By then, they were all gathered around the fish tank, looking from the fish to Cole.

"You can do that, baby," Phoebe said, reassuringly. "Just relax and let your powers work."

Cole took a deep breath and looked at the fish tank, biting his lower lip. At first, nothing happened, but then the mercury level in the thermometer attached to the inner side of the fish tank slowly started to raise. When it reached 75 F, Cole stopped, saying:

"But the fish don't seem to be getting any better. Why aren't they getting better?"

"Maybe the shock was too much for them," Piper said.

"But they're not dead yet!..." Cole sighed, watching the fish. "There must be..." -- he suddenly turned to Leo, giving the Whitelighter a hopeful look.

"What!" Leo exclaimed. "No, Cole! I can't heal the fish!"

"Why not?" Cole asked.

"They're fish!"

"They're innocents," Cole said.

Leo gave him an impatient look, but he pursued:

"Come on, it's not fair! A dog would've been able to leave the room when the fight started, but the fish were helpless to protect themselves: we were the ones who should have taken the fish tank out of the room."

"Cole, for God's sake, they're fish," Leo said again.

"They're innocents," Cole repeated, stubbornly. "They're just these harmless, stupid little things that didn't do anything wrong, and they're suffering because we didn't know better than keeping them here while we summoned a vengeance demon."

"Is this about Ben?" Leo asked. "Because I can assure you that he'll never notice if you replace these fish with new ones."

"It's not about Ben," Cole insisted, "it's about the fish!"

"Why do you care so much about the fish?" Leo asked, throwing his hands into the air.

"Because that's the kind of evil I used to be," Cole sighed.

Leo frowned slightly, giving him an inquisitive look, and he proceeded:

"Remember what Piper was saying the other night, about the different kinds of evil? Well, that's the kind of evil I was: I wanted to rise in rank, and if that meant that I should cause pain and suffering to other creatures..." -- he shrugged, giving Leo a sorrowful look -- "So be it. I just didn't care. I didn't actually have anything against most of my victims: they were just harmless, stupid little things that stood between me and my goals."

Leo sighed and rubbed his face: he could see that it meant a lot to Cole, and he knew very well how difficult it was for his friend to make peace with his evil past. Besides, he kind of felt sorry for the fish, too: Leo hated to see any creature suffer. And to top it all off, every woman in the room was now giving him the please-pretty-please-with-sugar-and-honey-on-top look!...

He made a silent pray, hoping the Elders weren't looking, and walked towards the fish tank, muttering to Piper:

"If Melinda wants a pet, we're gonna buy her a stuffed animal."

Piper smiled as he raised his hands, positioning them over the fish tank with the palms down. A bright light started to emanate from them, surrounding the entire fish tank, and the fish started to recover, at first just swimming in dazed circles near the surface, then slowly going back to their usual behavior.

"Thank you," Cole said when Leo withdrew his hands and backed away from the fish tank.

"Don't thank me yet," Leo told him, placing his arms around Piper, "We're gonna have a good talk about that, later."

He orbed out before Cole could reply, and Cole leaned down and planted a light kiss on Dawn's temple, making her blush to the roots of her hair.

"Thank you, too, Dawn."

While Dawn stammered an embarrassed answer, Paige turned to Phoebe, saying:

"So, when you told Piper that we'd be in charge of dinner, you didn't mean...?"

"Cooking dinner for eleven?" -- Phoebe raised her hands in feign horror -- "God, no!"

She and Paige exchanged an understanding smile, and she turned to the others, saying:

"I hope everyone likes pizza."