Hello everybody! I am really sorry for disappearing for so long. I had a massive writer's block and could not come up with a single line. Now it seems that I am back on track and hopefully the next chapters would not take that long.

I want to thank everybody who has reviewed the last chapter and hope that you would like the new one. Let me know!

Chapter 16

"You what?" Nicole paled and stared at him.

"I have released the Titans," Leo repeated plopping on the chair. He closed his eyes and added nonchalantly, "They are going after the Elder's Council. You won't need to replace it."

Nicole took a deep breath. She made a step closer to Leo and asked softly, "What happened?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her, his eyes sparkled wildly on the pale face. "They knew," he whispered, "about Cole and the Source. Knew all the way. And also the baby... It was not... Was not the Source's, it was..." he took a harsh breath, "I did not know," his voice quavered slightly, "I swear I did not know... They did not... did not tell me. If I had known, I would have never... never..."

Nicole squeezed his hand, "I know, Leo," she said softly. "I know you would not."

The former whitelighter brushed his tears away. "If Cole ever finds out..." he trailed off.

Nicole smiled sadly, "He knows," she said quietly.

Leo jerked his head and stared at her wildly, "He knows?" he stammered.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Well, I don't think anybody told him, but the Elders were never keen on a former demon being married to a Charmed One. And it was unlikely that they did not know that he was possessed. And with the baby..." she sighed, "we all studied biology at school and even being magically possessed does not change its rules."

The sound of a shimmer interrupted her. Cole blurred in, his face deadly serious. He spotted Leo and Nicole and breathed a sigh of relief, "The Titans are out on the loose," he announced soberly. "Nobody in the Underworld knows who released them. But the Source's Council is getting ready for a fight. And we should do the same. Titans don't share power."

Leo swallowed harshly and Nicole shot him a wary look, "We know..." she said quietly.

Cole gave her a puzzled look, "You know?" he repeated and then shifted his gaze to Leo, "The Elders have been alerted already?" he asked, "Do they know how they escaped?"

Nicole hesitated not knowing what to say and Leo could not stand this anymore, "I released them," he blurted out.

Cole's eyes grew wide, he opened his mouth but had to clear his throat before any sound came out, "You did what?" he finally said.

Leo shook his head tiredly, "I have released the Titans," he repeated.

Had the Elder been in a better mood he would have probably enjoyed the expression of total shock on his ex brother-in-law's face. It took Cole over a minute to recover his ability to talk, "Why the hell did you do that?" he cried out having a bad feeling in his gut.

"To get rid of the Elders," Leo shot quickly. "The Titans will first go after them, since they were the once who captured them."

"And then they will go after everybody else," Cole exclaimed angrily. "What the hell were you thinking unleashing such evil on the world?"

Leo jumped to his feet, "I thought about your bloody mission," he shouted shaking violently, "You have no idea how to replace the Elders, well now you don't have that problem."

"Well, I much rather have a problem with the Elders than deal with the Titans," Cole retorted crossly, "They are complete nutters, totally high on their powers. There is no way to reason with them and unlike you I am not suicidal myself and also have people in this realm I care about."

"So do I," Leo yelled. "That's why I would like to come back to my family in one piece and not wait till Elders bring down their unspeakable wrath on me as a traitor. And since they have already got to Henric who was my right hand among the whitelighters, it was just the matter of time till they would have gotten to me. A matter of very short time."

Cole shook his head and was about to retort, but Nicole stepped between two men and faced her husband, "Cole," she said sternly, "There is no point arguing now. Leo had his reasons. And now we just need to make sure that the consequences are limited to the minimum."

Under her stare the half demon visibly cooled down. He turned towards the window "Well, there is only one way..." he started.

"To transfer three powerful witches into Goddesses," Leo finished. "One for every Titan."

"Do you have any candidates in mind?" Nicole asked trying to stay calm and prevent the argument between two men going any further.

"The Charmed Ones," Cole muttered still standing with his back towards Leo.

"No..." the latter shot up from the chair he had just plopped onto, "They can't do it. Phoebe's powers are going haywire and Piper is due any day."

"Well, then we just have to do it faster," Cole finally turned around and stared at his former brother-in-law, "Because there is nobody else who can do it."

"Why not?" Leo cried out.

"Because to defeat the Titans you need to be very powerful," Nicole interfered trying to prevent her husband and the Elder going at each other again. "Even in Goddess mode it's very difficult for a normal witch to withstand the power of the Titans no matter to defeat them. That's why in the past the Elders only managed to banish them. But with the Charmed Ones being the most powerful witches ever, the situation is different and they can actually vanquish them."

"No, they can't," Leo seared Nicole with a fierce glare, "They are not ready at the moment and I am not putting my unborn child and my wife in such risk."

"Well, you should have thought about it before!" Cole shot.

Leo's eyes sparkled furiously but Nicole did not let him to retort. "Cole," she gave her husband a stern look, "Can you just stop accusing Leo? He did what he thought was best at a time and all of us know that sometimes things don't work out the way we want to. So let's just stop arguing and try to act constructively so we can resolve the situation."

For a second the half demon just stared at his wife surprised by her sharp reprove. But she had already turned away from him and was now looking at Leo. Unseen for her husband, Nicole eyes pleaded the former whitelighter not to reveal the truth he had learnt this evening. Leo submitted to her and tried to calm down. "Why can't you or Lugels themselves banish the Titans. You can go into the God mode too?" he asked.

"That's not possible, Leo," Nicole replied. "Being in God mode is a big strain for the human body. And the powers have to be in perfect balance, meaning that they have to be rooted into one source. Me, Cole and the Lugels have too many powers and they are rooted in different sources. We would be literally torn into pieces. That's why it was the Elders who banished the Titans last time."

Leo's shoulders sagged. Now he would have given anything for never going along with his fear of exposure and desire to seek revenge on the Elders. All he had achieved with his rushed decision was to put the Halliwells into the line of fire again.

Cole rubbed his face with his hands and tried to cool down his anger. He kept having a funny feeling that there was something in this whole story that he was missing. But he did not have time to think about it. Nicole was right, their priority was to get the situation under control. And he had to keep himself, and especially Nicole and the baby, safe from harm. His gloomy musings were interrupted by Nicole's cell phone.

"Nicole Turner," she said wondering who could be calling her at one o'clock in the morning.

"Nicole," the young woman recognized Celina's voice which now sounded unusually worried. "I hope you know that the Titans were released?"

Nicole nodded, "Yes, we do. Leo told us."

"Good," the French woman answered quickly. "At the moment they are getting their revenge on the Elders so I suggest you get out of your Penthouse and come to the Schwarzlight Mansion. And bring Wyatt with you. He soon will be the only Elder alive." She paused and added, "Nicole, I don't have to tell you that the situation is very serious. You know yourself that we lost half the Council last time the Titans were free."

Nicole nodded silently as if Celina could see her, "Yes, I know," she cleared his throat. "We will try to fix it. We already have a plan."

"The Charmed Ones?" Celina asked. And when Nicole confirmed added approvingly. "It's a good plan. They should have enough powers. And you two can back them up." She paused and added quietly but sternly. "But be careful. Whatever you do, don't fight them face to face. I know you are the Chosen Two, but we have no idea how your powers would work in the presence of the Titans." She changed her tone, "I trust that the new Source would be able to keep the Underworld under control. And we are going to keep an eye on the whitelighters and witches." With these words she disconnected.

Nicole closed her mobile and gave her husband a gloomy look. "That was Celina. We need to go to the Schwarzlight Mansion. It's not safe here." She turned to the former whitelighter, "You are coming with us."

Leo nodded, "What about Rhiannon?" he asked nodding towards the unconscious female Elder.

"We'll take her with us," Cole waved his hand over her. "She won't wake up for a while."

Nicole nodded, "Leo, you should change," she said making sure that her husband would not be left alone with the Elder, "I'll get you some of Cole's clothes." She took the former whitelighter to the bedroom and opened the wardrobe, "Thank you," she whispered quickly, "for not telling him. I don't want Cole to go through more pain than he already has."

"But you said, he knows?" Leo whispered back.

Nicole pulled out a shirt and a pair of trousers, "On some level, but it's different to hear the conformation from someone else." She handed the clothes to Leo and smiled wryly, "As you know yourself."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the Halliwell Manor Piper turned in her bed for probably the hundredth time during the night. She could not sleep. It had been really hot during the day and her big belly did not make her any more comfortable. At the end she decided to get up and slowly shuffled downstairs into the living room. To her surprise she found that she was not the only one who was up in the middle of the night. Phoebe was curled up in the chair, a cup of tea in her hand.

"Hi, sis," Piper greeted, "It looks I am not the only one who suffers from this heat."

Phoebe lifted her head and Piper felt uneasy under her stare. For the past month, Phoebe has been very distant. Ever since she created the alternative reality trying to get Cole back, she had withdrawn into her shell, which consisted from working fourteen hours a day, and spending the rest of her time in her room. The middle Charmed One received a severe warning from the Elders for using her powers for personal gain but she did not even seem to care. She did not care about anything and when her sisters tried to talk to her, she avoided the conversations at all costs. Piper thought that this time would be the same and already turned to leave when Phoebe finally spoke up.

"I have not been sleeping well lately. Too much on my mind."

Piper turned around and looked at her sister, "I know," she said softly trying to show Phoebe her support and at the same time not to scare her sister off.

Phoebe smiled wanly, "I am sorry Piper for being so distant. I just had to figure out some things and learn to live with them." She paused and continued, "Now when I finally had the courage to face the facts about my life during the last year I will try to move on... The best I can."

"That's great, honey," the oldest Halliwell came closer and set down next to her sister. "You know that Paige and myself are here for you."

"I know," Phoebe smiled trying to hide the sadness in her eyes. "And it's a great help..."

The sound of orbing and shimmering interrupted her and three figures materialized in the middle of the living room.

"Demon," Piper screamed raising her hands but her powers did not have any affect on the newcomers.

"Piper, don't," Leo said tiredly.

The two Charmed Ones stared in shock at their former whitelighter dressed in the black jeans and a dark navy designer shirt.

"Leo?" Piper asked having troubles recognizing her husband in this tall broad shouldered man.

"Yes, it's me." Leo replied. "Sorry to barge on your in the middle of the night. But we have an emergency here."

"Emergency?" Phoebe squeaked trying to tear her eyes away from Cole.

"Yes," Leo squirmed uncomfortably and Cole decided to step into the conversation.

"The Titans have been released," he explained plainly. "They are ancient Gods with immense powers."

"So?" Piper who managed to calm down a bit gave him a hostile look, "What does it have to do with us? Gods are not our specialty, we kill demons. You should know that."

"Piper!" two voices cried out in unison.

"What?" the oldest witch looked at her husband and her sister in surprise, "What did I say?"

Nobody answered her but a lot of meaningful looks were exchanged.

Leo tried to open his mouth but a loud shout interrupted him, "What the hell are you doing here?" Paige cried out standing on top of the stairs holding several potions in her hands.

Cole mentally cursed. He knew that they would not be warmly received in the Halliwell's Manor and he was almost prepared for it. But during the past months he had forgotten how hostile Piper could be and how much Paige annoyed his guts. Plus having Nicole witness the way Phoebe was staring at him made him uneasy. The half demon cursed again, damn Leo had released the Titans and massively screwed everything up.

The calm voice of his wife made Cole stop his silent muttering. "Look, all of us here are intelligent enough to understand that we would not come here in the middle of the night if it was not absolutely necessary. Titans are a threat to all of us, evil, good, human and magical. So I suggest that we refrain from arguing and get on with things. If we survive the Titan's than we will have plenty of time to talk all we want and if we don't than all our differences do not really matter that much."

The two older Charmed Ones stayed silent not knowing what to say but Paige was not that easily convinced. "Hey, you can't just order us around," she exclaimed still keeping her potions ready. "And who the hell are Titans?"

"Titans are ancient Greek Gods, extremely powerful," Cole repeated his explanation. "They were banished by the Elders centuries ago. Now they were released and at the moment they are destroying the Elder's Council and after that will fight everybody else since they don't like to share powers."

"And who released them?" Piper asked suspiciously.

Leo's face twitched as he tried to answer, but Nicole bit him to it, "We don't know," she said. "And it doesn't really matter. The most important thing now is to defeat the Titans before they go any further destroying the magic and the rest of the world."

No matter how much Phoebe hated this woman, she had to admit that she was right. The middle Charmed One sighed and said, "Ok, we will check the Book of Shadows."

Leo shook his head, "No need, Titans are not there. There is only one way to defeat them: for you three to become Goddesses."

"What?" Paige shrieked. "You want to turn us into Greek Goddesses?"

He nodded, "This is the only way. Your powers will increase dramatically and should at least match the Titan's powers and considering that you are the Charmed Ones you should be able to vanquish them."

"But Leo," Phoebe objected, "we are not really in a position to fight at the moment. Piper is due any day."

Leo's face expressed a great strain, "I know," he said quietly, "And I am so sorry but there is no other choice."

Cole stepped into the conversation. "We will help you as much as we can," he said gently.

Paige snorted, "Not trying to kill us would be a start."

Phoebe seared her youngest sister with a glare and Piper turned to her husband. "Are you sure that there is no other way?" she asked her brown eyes boring into his.

"I am sure," he answered looking straight back at her.

Piper exchanged glances with her sisters and the three witches joined their hands. Cole and Nicole blurred outside of the Manor creating a powerful shield to prevent the Titans from noticing the transformation. The first gleams of rising sun had just appeared from behind the horizon. It promised to be a very long day.