Chapter Six

Wednesday, July 22, 2009...

Early Morning...

Cole felt the pairs of eyes watching his every move as he poured himself some cereal and milk. He tried to ignore them and managed to swallow a spoonful but they were relentless. He put down his spoon and sharply asked, "Haven't you seen someone eat cereal before?"

"But you're a demon," Chris blurted out in surprise.

"And that means I can't eat cereal?" Cole grumbled. He hadn't slept well and wasn't in the mood for an interrogation about his breakfast habits.

Chris shrugged and shoved a spoonful of his cereal into his mouth, "Dunno. I guess not."

"You like Froot Loops?" Wyatt warily wondered. "Maybe you're not really a demon."

"I was a demon," Cole informed the boys, "but you're right. I never even knew what a Froot Loop was until I met your Aunt Phoebe. She taught me about them and I discovered I liked them. She taught me a lot of things."

"Me too," Wyatt nodded in agreement before eating an overflowing spoonful of cereal.

"Wyatt said you were in the Book," Chris commented, his mouth also full of cereal, "but he couldn't find the picture to show me."

Cole stared at both youngsters, "Your mother lets you look at the Book of Shadows?"

Chris looked at his older brother before answering Cole, "A lot of the words are too big but there're plenty of pictures. Aunt Phoebe says it's good for us to learn what the demons look like in case they try to get us. Demons're always coming to get us."

"Sometimes I can read the spells," Wyatt proclaimed. "But Aunt Paige says I can't say them out loud in case they work. She says I'll have plenty of time to practice when I'm older. So can you show us?"

"Show you what?" Cole asked after eating another bite of his cereal.

"What you look like as a real demon," Chris told him. "Wyatt says you're supposed to be red and black."

"There was a big picture," Wyatt explained, "next to the pictures of you and Aunt Phoebe."

"They're still there, huh," Cole murmured. "That demon doesn't exist anymore."

Wyatt was confused, "But you're here so you have to be."

"It's kind of hard to explain," Cole said, losing his appetite.

"Why don't you give it a try," Phoebe quietly suggested when she entered the room. Not an easy topic but she wanted to see how he handled it. Maybe she could use it when their daughter would one day ask questions after looking in the Book.

Cole frowned, "What're you doing out of bed? You're supposed to be resting there all day today."

Phoebe ruffled Chris's hair before she did Wyatt's. "I'm hungry," she answered Cole.

"You're always hungry, Aunt Phoebe," Wyatt announced.

"Always," Cole solemnly nodded to the boy while letting Phoebe see the tease in his eyes.

Phoebe ignored Cole and nudged Wyatt from his seat. "It's your cousin's fault," she told the boy as she tugged him onto her lap.

Wyatt arched back, following the contour of her belly, and giggled when he felt the baby kick. "She's awake," he giggled when the baby kicked again. He sat up and twisted to face Phoebe, "She can have some of my Froot Loops."

"Thanks, sweetie," she kissed him on the tip of his nose before nudging him off again so she could stand, "but I think she'll have some toast this morning."

Cole immediately looked at her with concern and was about to rise when Phoebe patted his shoulder, gently pushing him down, as she passed him. "If you're still nauseous, I'll fix the toast. You go back to bed."

"I'm okay," she assured him. She picked two pieces of bread and dropped them into the toaster, "Just being cautious. Milk doesn't always agree with me and after yesterday..."

"So can you change now?" Chris reminded everyone.

Phoebe focused on her nephews and asked, "Do you know who this man is?" The boys eventually shook their heads and she smiled, "His name is Cole Turner and I was once married to him."

"So he's our uncle?" Wyatt asked, eyeing Cole.

Excited, Chris said, "We've got a demon for an uncle? Coool..."

"Your Aunt Phoebe and I were divorced," Cole explained, unable to look at Phoebe, "so I'm not really your uncle. And I told you, I'm no longer a demon."

"Why not?" Wyatt asked.

Cole sighed and tried to keep things simple, "My mother was a demon but my father was a normal human and --"

"Like Grandpa," Phoebe interrupted just as her toast popped up. "Cole didn't have any powers from his daddy, just his mommy."

"Sorta like us being half-Whitelighter because of Daddy," Wyatt questioned, "and half-witch because of Mommy?"

"Sorta like," Cole nodded, echoing the boy's phrase. "One of my powers was to turn into a demon, just like the one you saw pictured in the Book. And I turned into that demon for many, many, many years. But one day I met your Aunt Phoebe and I decided that I didn't want to be a demon anymore."

"Because you wanted to marry Aunt Phoebe," Chris guessed.

Cole finally smiled, "I wanted to marry her more than anything."

Phoebe carried her plate of toast to the table and sat next to Cole. "And he tried very hard to be good, to only use his powers for good."

"To help innocents," Wyatt asked, "like you and Mom and Aunt Paige?"

"Exactly," Phoebe confirmed, biting into one of the pieces of toast.

Cole stood and retrieved the orange juice from the fridge and poured some into a glass. "I'd done a lot of bad things as a demon. Things that were wrong, things that were very bad, and I wanted to make up for it because I was sorry."

"Is that why Mommy tried to blow you up," Chris wondered, "because you did something bad?"

"But she couldn't," Wyatt realized, "because you're a strong demon."

"Mommy couldn't do it because Cole has different powers now," Phoebe explained. "These powers make him pretty strong but they're not the same powers he had as a demon."

Cole sighed at the boys' confused expressions. "I hurt your mom and your aunts. I didn't always mean to but it happened and I'm not proud of it." He brought the glass to Phoebe and continued as she gratefully sipped from it, "One day, someone I'd hurt as a demon wanted to hurt me back because of what I'd done to her. She was very angry with me and she threw a potion at me that took away all my demon powers. I couldn't turn into a demon anymore after that."

"Wow..." Chris uttered.

"That's good, right?" Wyatt asked. "I mean you didn't want to be a demon anymore anyway. And you got new powers."

Cole hesitated a moment, "That's right."

But Phoebe shook her head. "That's not right," she told him. "That wasn't what we wanted, not really. We wanted you to be safe from the Source, safe from Belthazor. We didn't mean you should lose a part of yourself."

Cole hugged her and told her it was okay. He stroked her belly, "It all worked out."

"No it didn't," she angrily said, pushing herself back. "That was the moment when it all changed for us. It caused you so much internal confusion and set off a chain reaction that led to your vanquish and we know what happened after that so don't say it worked out." She noticed the boys staring at her and apologized.

"So are you gonna live with us?" Chris suddenly asked.

Cole gazed at Phoebe, "I can't." He saw her eyes well with tears and pulled her back into his arms. "We talked about this last night..."

"You wouldn't be changing history," she whispered.

"You can't be sure," he disagreed as he kissed the top of her head. "If I don't go back and meet my fate, whatever it may be, your past might be changed because you might not be affected the same way to make the same choices you'd already made."

"I don't understand," Wyatt piped up.

Cole focused on the boys, "Did you ever hurt yourself, Wyatt?"

Wyatt nodded, "I hurt my knee when I was riding my bike. I fell and Daddy wasn't home to heal it. And it really hurt. But Aunt Phoebe was there and she bought me some ice cream from the ice cream truck."

Cole nodded, "Okay, then let's play a game of pretend. Chris, I want you to pretend that you were Wyatt who just had some ice cream."

Phoebe noticed the boy's eyes widen and she immediately told him, "This's pretend, Chris, you're not having ice cream for breakfast."

"Okay," Cole continued, "now, let's say, Wyatt, you decide to go to the past to warn Chris that he's going to fall off his bike and hurt his knee. What would you do?"

Wyatt shrugged, "I wouldn't go riding my bike."

"But," Cole told him, "if you don't ride your bike, you won't get ice cream from Aunt Phoebe."

Wyatt thought it over, "The ice cream was really good...Vanilla, my favorite."

"Figures," Cole rolled his eyes.

Phoebe poked him in the ribs before she focused on her nephews, "What Cole is trying to say is that --"

"He has to go back to where he came from," Wyatt interrupted, "if he's gonna be able to come back here."

"Something like that," Cole acknowledged, amazed at the young boy's ability to understand on a basic level. But he heard Phoebe's sniffle and asked her, "What if I do stay? What if something changes in the timeline, something so minor, so seemingly inconsequential, that sets off a new chain reaction that takes you away from that alley six months ago so that you were never attacked by Zimaan and sent back in time? Or what if fate makes sure you face Zimaan but you're sent back to 1885 instead of 2003?"

Phoebe looked down at her belly and fearfully caressed it, "No."

"I can't risk anything happening to her," he quietly challenged, "can you? She's our reason, Phoebe, remember that."

But Phoebe couldn't speak and began to softly cry. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face to his chest. After a moment she sniffled, "Maybe you'll forget all about this and chalk it up to a night of pink elephants." She felt his chest rumble with laughter but she cried again, "I don't want you to forget."

"Don't cry, Aunt Phoebe," Wyatt requested. "Look!"

"Coool..." Chris exclaimed.

Phoebe felt Cole's laughter and sniffled before lifting her head. She gasped, "Wyatt!"

Chris jumped from his seat and pet the baby pink elephant that now stood in the kitchen, "Can we keep him?"

Phoebe left her seat to hug Wyatt, "Thank you, sweetie, for making me feel better. But you know we can't keep him."

Cole watched Wyatt wave a hand in the direction of the elephant and cause it to disappear. "Impressive, Wyatt. You're pretty powerful for someone your age."

"I can do lots of other stuff too," he proudly declared before he frowned, "'cept Mom's always telling me not to."

"Now, Wyatt," Phoebe lectured, "you know she wants you and your brother to learn to use your powers at the right time. She's not trying to stop you all the time."

He shrugged, "Seems she's always yelling at me."

Phoebe hugged him again, "She's just worried about you. She loves you so much." She kissed him and pulled back, "Now, why don't the two of you run into the other room and watch a cartoon before you get dressed?"

"Really? TV?" Chris asked to make sure.

Phoebe glanced at the clock, "One show and then it's off."

"Thanks, Aunt Phoebe," they exclaimed before running from the kitchen.

"He should be encouraged to use his powers," Cole informed her when she returned to her seat.

Phoebe tore her toast into small pieces and popped one in her mouth. "It's not easy. You have no idea how powerful Wyatt is, what he's been prophesized to become. There were days when he was a baby that we were ready to tear our hair out over things he'd done. We're trying to slowly train him, and Chris, to learn about magic and using powers."

"Do you plan on doing the same with our daughter?" he questioned.

She frowned, "You make it sound like we're doing something wrong."

"You are," he claimed. "Did you see his face when he created that elephant for you? There was sheer joy which completely evaporated the minute he started talking about Piper stifling his powers."

"She's not stifling them," Phoebe insisted. "She's trying to bring them under control which isn't easy for a little boy who's so excited to have them, who doesn't understand about consequences and personal gain."

"It wasn't personal gain that made him create that elephant," Cole countered. "It was love."

Phoebe shook her head, "I know that. Look, I told you why the adult Chris came back. Piper wants Wyatt to have as normal a life as possible to make him less of a target, to make him fit in more with the non-magical world he's a part of."

"By restricting his use of magic?" Cole shook his head, "He might grow up being resentful of what she's trying to do. And she might cause the very thing that Chris came back to avoid."

Phoebe was shocked, "No, we stopped the evil that was out to get Wyatt. He's good now."

"Don't you see, Phoebe," he urged, "being evil isn't always due to outside influences. Some people are just born that way. Not every killer, rapist, or nutcase you read about in the morning paper is a demon. If you keep trying to suppress Wyatt's personality that stems from his use of magic, he'll grow up resenting you for it. He'll keep it bottled up inside until he explodes with rage at you and at every other supposedly good model in his life. What will you do then when he's so powerful? And what about sibling rivalry? Are you as restrictive with Chris? Does Wyatt really understand why he's the one picked on?"

"I've let him practice," she confessed. "When Piper's not around. I've turned it into something of a game. Sometimes Paige joins us. We take the boys to Magic School and sit with them and some of the other students. We're trying to convince Piper to let the boys take some after-school sessions there."

"You're afraid," Cole realized. "Afraid I'm right." Phoebe didn't answer and he asked, "And what about our daughter?"

"I love my sisters and I value their opinions but this is my baby and what's right for Wyatt and Chris may not be right for her." She shrugged, "I don't know what kind of powers she'll have but I know what you went through when you didn't have yours. And I know how long it took as an adult to get used to mine. I want magic to be second nature to her. I know it'll be hard when she's a baby and can't help herself but I will teach her. Sure, I want her to have a normal life too, one where she fits in the regular world. But normal for me means being one with the magic and that's what I want to teach my, our, daughter."

"Good," he nodded in satisfaction. He hesitantly reached over and stroked her belly again, "Call Alicia. Make it happen." He felt Phoebe tense and quietly added, "Before it's any harder for either one of us to say goodbye."

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