Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Charmed, they are the property of Brad Kern and whoever else owns Charmed. Tomika is my original character, though. No stealing without my permission!

Bookwormqueen: Ask and ye shall receive! Thanks very much for reviewing! *Cries with gratitude and gives you a cookie*

The heavy oak door eased open ponderously, allowing gusts of frozen wind and snow to invade the muted warmth of the dimly lit living room. The bundle of clothes tumbled through the doorway and landed in a heap on the slippery floor. Muttered curses issued from the figure as it picked itself up and leaned its entire mass against the door to close it again. The wind protested shrilly, beating against the door with increased force and forcing it to open wider. With a Herculean effort, the irked figure lunged against the door, slamming it shut. The wind died down to a forlorn moaning outside, defeated.

After a second's pause slumped against the wall to regain its breath, the figure trudged towards a table with a tray filled with cups of steaming coca, shedding garments and snowflakes as it went. Gradually, a girl emerged from the mass of clothing, short blond hair matted against her forehead. She shook the remaining snow off vigorously, ripped the final fuzzy hat off her head, and groaned as her hair stood up straight, strands waving like one of those static electricity globes. She desperately tried to mat it down with her hands, to no effect. She snorted in irritation, grabbing an enormous mug of hot chocolate from the tray before settling down in one of the many large squashy leather chairs set up around the cheerily illuminated fireplace. The light cast from the dancing flames only served to enhance the shadows of the vast room.

The girl has just taken the first sip of the perfectly steaming hot chocolate when a low growling voice issued from the shadows by her left shoulder.

"We have a problem, Thursday."

The girl choked and sputtered, hot chocolate spraying everywhere. She turned and glared at the offending speaker with all the rage of one-who-has- been-deprived-of-hot-chocolate-and-had-their-very-first-sip-ruined. A fuzzy face with large cute eyes stared back at her, implacable.

"I told you to stop doing that, Tomika!" Thursday gasped out forcefully, somewhat miffed that the gopher wasn't even the slightest bit impressed with her glare of doom.

Tomika was unrepentant. "I know. But this is important," he intoned solemnly. "You need to see this."

Thursday was reluctantly curious, and slightly concerned. Anything Tomika was upset about was nothing to sniff at. She suspected that the demon gopher would view the end of the world as only a minor inconvenience.

"Oookay," she carefully set down the remainder of her coca and stood up quickly. "Lead the way."

Tomika led her away from the warm fireplace, towards a shadowy corner of the room. The gopher seemed to glide from shadow to shadow as if he were a part of them. Thursday struggled to keep up, weaving through the maze of chairs and tables. She was just about to say something when she saw Tomika stop up ahead. She followed his gaze to a solitary chair and the figure slumped in it.

He had what could have been a handsome face, if it wasn't so worn from fatigue and drink. Short dark hair and eyebrows, a proud nose and strong forehead contrasted with the red circles standing out under his eyes. He looked as though he hadn't bothered to shave in weeks, stubble blurring the lines of his chin and mouth. He was mostly in shadow, the fleeting flashes of firelight giving him a skeletal appearance. A glass of whiskey hung loosely from the fingers of his right hand, draped over the side of the chair.

Thursday shook her head sadly. She had a feeling that something like this would happen. She gazed silently at the broken man before her, wishing there was some way to undo the past.

"Cole Turner."