Disclaimer: See First Chapter.

Author's Note: Hi! Thank you all so much for the reviews! I was in lab for computer class and decided to sneak a peak at the reviews - and ended up grinning like an idiot. Everyone kept looking at me, apperently they didn't think spreadsheets meritted that response. lol!

Goldstranger: You don't find out who dared to attack them in this one, but you might in the next...

Baltar-666: Here's another post... no more suspense. )

Trina-K: Thanks! Oh and I haven't forgotten that story, I have the next chapter mostly written, I'm just not sure how to end it...

Icantthinkofafnick: This chapter explains what happened, but not why... you'll have to keep reading for that... )

Lovey4758: Here's more! thanks for reading.

Katbaby: I want the sisters to see Cole being gentle and kind and maybe just a little wrapped around his little girls finger... as for him being in control - at the moment there all sorta feeling each other out - I'm planning on having them work together for a little bit, while the kids are in danger. And then later he can assert his independence - when the sisters are least expecting it, of course.

Tannim2: Oh don't worry... there not getting off the hook for that one... especially Phoebe... they're all going to have to through major angst... especially Phoebe...

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING!

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"Daddy," Tessa whimpered again, fighting Phoebe's hold.

The shock of Cole appearing (hurt) and thrusting their daughter in her arms before disappearing (hurt), wore away immediately as she realized her daughter needed comfort, "Shhhh, it's okay, baby, Mommy's got you. Daddy will be back later…" She cooed, pulling the child closer.

Tessa stopped struggling, but not crying. She pressed her tiny face into Phoebe's shoulder and the hot tears soaked Phoebe's shirt.

Leo stood, "Is she hurt? Does she need to be healed?" He asked walking over.

Phoebe went to the sofa she'd vacated and deposited her daughter there. Unraveling the blanket she began to examine Tessa, to see if the child was hurt anywhere.

Leo kneeled next to her, also examining the child. Tessa said nothing as the adults, pulled at her blankets and ran their hands over her. She didn't even look at them, she kept her eyes downcast and every few minutes she'd sniffle and swipe at her face with the edge of the blanket.

"Does it hurt anywhere, honey?" Phoebe asked gently.

Tessa shook her head, than lifted those large hazel eyes to her mother, "Daddy's hurt." She whispered.

Phoebe swallowed the lump in her throat, "He'll be okay, honey, he'll be right back." She reassured, hoping she wasn't lying to her daughter so soon.

But Tessa seemed to believe her mother, and simply nodded, before lowering her gaze again.

Phoebe stood and lifted the child, than sat back down again, settling the girl on her lap.

Leo stood also and made his way back to the couch where Paige was now holding Chris, instead of letting him lie on the cushion.

"She's okay?" Piper asked.

Phoebe nodded solemnly, rocking the girl, "Yeah, I think… but she's shaking."

"She's so small," Paige said almost in awe, "How old did you say she was?"

"She's the age she's supposed to be," Phoebe responded, "She's four."

"She's adorable."

Piper smiled a little, "Wait till you hear her talk."

Paige smiled, already having heard the story of the mastery of language.

"What do you think is going on?" she asked.

They were all silent, "I'm not sure," Leo responded after a few moments, "But I think it's best we all stay right here with the kids, until Cole gets back."

They all nodded, no one willing to contemplate what would happen if Cole didn't come back.

Phoebe did her best to rock Tessa to sleep, but the little girl refused to give in to slumber until her Daddy got back. Her eyelids would slide shut, her breathing just begin to even out, when she'd suddenly jerk in Phoebe's hold and look around.

It was close to an hour later when Cole re-appeared. His eyes scanned the room quickly before heading towards Tessa.

"Daddy," she called out, but she was so exhausted it came out a whisper.

He knelt in front of Phoebe and took the girl in his arms, "Go to sleep now, baby, I'll be here when you wake up." He whispered, pressing a kiss to her brow.

Tessa nodded, her eyes sliding shut, "Is Angie…." She asked, her words trailing off.

"Angie's fine, everything's fine…" he comforted, but the look in his eyes spoke to the contrary.

She was asleep in minutes and he stood sighing.

Phoebe stood with him, "She wouldn't sleep till you got here, I tried."

He nodded, not really looking at her, "Yeah, I know. She always does that."

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked, the question was out before she could stop it and she immediately wished she could take it back.

His head shot up and those dark eyes bored into her, the meaning clear: no way in hell was she asking him that.

"Why don't you have a shirt on?" Paige asked, eyeing him skeptically, "Or shoes? And why is it, we can never actually get rid of you?"

He didn't answer her, instead he knelt and gently lay Tessa on the couch again. She whimpered when he released her, and he murmured a reassurance.

He stood when she was calm and faced them, "Good to see you too Paige," he stated.

"Why aren't you healing?" Piper asked.

He frowned, "What?"

"Why aren't you healing? You always used to heal right away." She said, "Except for that time we used the blessed atheme."

"I'm not a demon." He said simply.

"Not a demon?" Paige parroted.

"So what are you?" Phoebe asked softly.

He turned to her a little, "A mortal with powers…"

"… but than that would make you…" Paige trailed off, slowly as the implication entered her mind.

… a witch…" Phoebe finished quietly.

He nodded, looking back at the group that was on the sofa.

Silence filled the living room on that note, with no one knowing what to do or say. Phoebe was looking miserable again, and Paige looked like she was about to argue about something.

So Piper did the one thing she knew how to do, the thing she'd perfected since Prue had died – take control.

"Leo go heal him, and Paige go upstairs and look through the old-boyfriend pile for a shirt he can wear, get some of Leo's socks and a pair of sneakers or something too, and Phoebe come sit down before you pass out."

It took a few minutes for everything to register, but everyone soon moved to do her bidding. Paige flew up the stairs, Leo stood heading towards Cole, and Phoebe sat next to Piper, lifting Wyatt's legs and settling them across her lap.

"Thanks," Cole said softly after Leo healed him, unable to restrain the sigh that escaped him. It became obvious that he'd been in a lot of pain.

Leo nodded, moving to sit down again.

Paige returned a few minutes later with a shirt and some socks.

"I couldn't find sneakers. Do you even own sneakers?" she said, looking at Leo, who just glared at her.

She tossed the shirt to Cole who slipped it on in one fluid motion and proceeded to put the socks on with minimal movement, so as not to jostle Tessa.

Phoebe's mouth dropped open and then she turned to glare at her little sister.

Paige shrugged, "It's not my fault they're the same size."

Piper frowned at them, than looked back at Cole, "Oh," she said before directing a glare at her sister too.

"What! All the other stuff would'a been too small. He's tall, like Jason; so thus I gave him one of Jason's old t-shirts… big deal… we have bigger to fish to fry, more important things to-"

"Kay, Paige we get it." Leo cut her off, smirking a little, knowing that she could go on for hours if allowed to.

They were all silent. After a moment Piper took the lead again, "Okay Cole, what's going on?"

His gaze turned dark, "Exactly what I said: we were ambushed. I'd just taken her out of the bath. We were in her room, putting her pajamas on and stuff, when demons just shimmered in." He shook his head, "I checked all the alarm systems and barriers when I got home, after her story about Lady I wanted to make sure everything was okay. Everything was up and running correctly, but still they just shimmered in like they owned the place." He scowled, "Blew up her dresser… it had the power puff girls engraved on it… cost a freakin' fortune…"

"What kind of demons?" Paige asked.

"Did they say what they wanted?" Piper asked.

He looked at Paige first, "They're called Yenix. Poisonous claws, laser eyes, and not too bright. They follow orders well." Then he looked at Piper, "They wanted Tessa," He said softly, looking down at her and holding her a tiny bit tighter, he looked up after a few moments, "They wanted her alive though… that's the only thing that saved us."

Phoebe shook her head, "But why?" she asked, and her sisters nodded, waiting for the answer too.

"Because of you…" Cole said, his tone even, "It's always because of you…"

"But we just met her," Paige said softly.

Cole eyed her coldly, "Let's face it, a demon sent her here and there was another demon waiting for her outside, she's been targeted. Somehow, someone found out about her connection to the great Charmed Ones and now all my hard work at keeping that world away from her has gone down the crapper."

"Hey watch the language!" Piper scolded, glancing down at her sleeping son.

Cole shrugged, "They're all asleep."

"So the demons bypassed your security system…" Paige said thoughtfully after a moment, "And Phoebe felt a presence in the nursery earlier… which means something bypassed that system too."

"But that's impossible, I don't know about Cole's system but ours is impenetrable by evil." Leo said softly.

The sisters gave him a pointed look, "The Avatars brought Cole back, not the Elders. They have no idea he's around… and definitely no clue about Tessa. I would've heard something by now if they did… it's been a long time."

Cole looked at them and frowned, "Sorry, I missed how the conversation shifted to the Elders."

"These types of systems are usually impenetrable by evil forces, not by good forces." Piper explained.

"So it's good to be careful…" Paige added.

"Because sometimes even good can be tainted." Phoebe elaborated.

He didn't comment. Just met her gaze, marveling at the fact that they'd finally learned what he'd spent years trying to teach them.

"So what's your point?" He finally asked, but he directed the question to Leo.

"Just that the Elders don't know about Tessa's existence."

"And if they did?" He asked.

Leo looked away, so he shifted his gaze to the sisters. He watched as they pondered the question.

It was Piper who spoke, "If they did, it would add another angle we'd have to consider when figuring out what's going on."

Cole analyzed that statement in the following silence – it was a statement that implied – distrust.

Distrust of the Elders?

That couldn't be right.

Could it?

"But we don't have to worry about it," Piper added, after a moment, "because they don't know about her."

"And let's keep it that way, please." Phoebe said.

"I second that." Paige said, her eyes lingering on Tessa, "That's a real cute kid." She said happily, a few minutes later.

Cole groaned.

"What!"

"She's gonna love you." He complained, "She's gonna love all of you and I liked my life without you people in it."

The sisters glared at him.

It was Phoebe, though, who spoke, her eyes blazing, "Tough!" she hissed, "Better get over that feeling."

Piper nodded, vigorously "Yeah, 'cause we're not going anywhere..."

"And neither is she..." Paige added a beat later.

He heard them, but didn't acknowledge them, his gaze remained on Phoebe.

The silence was tense, before Leo – ever the pacifist at heart – interrupted with a question.

"So where'd you come up with Tessa for a name?" He asked, his tone of voice making it obvious that he was changing the topic of conversation.

Cole continued to stare at the sisters, his gaze unreadable. After a moment, he shifted to look at Leo, "My father's sister, her name was Tessa."

"And Pilar… where did that come from?" Piper asked, accepting the need for a new topic.

"Her middle name's Pilar?" Paige exclaimed, a smile lighting her face, "That a P!" She said excitedly.

Cole rolled his eyes, "It was a moment of utter stupidity." He muttered.

Paige grinned from ear to ear, "You kept the tradition alive for us."

Piper laughed a little and even Phoebe had to smile a tad.

"That was very thoughtful." Piper stated sweetly.

"Thank You." Phoebe said softly, after a moment, her eyes glowing with pleasure.

His gaze landed on hers, and pinned her there with dark intensity.

He didn't like to think about it. About the fact that he had kept the tradition alive for them – and that he'd done it on purpose.

That he'd specifically set out to find a P name that wasn't or hadn't been used in their family and that he liked.

He didn't like that he'd come within two minutes of naming her Prudence-Something or Something-Prudence because he'd known it would have delighted Phoebe. Didn't like that he'd deliberately connected his daughter with their tradition, with their past. And what he didn't like most of all, was the warm, content feeling he got at their obvious happiness that he had; at the soft and sincere thank you Phoebe had just whispered.

He'd thought himself part of their family once. He'd been wrong. It had been hard to accept, hard to understand – but they'd made their message clear. She'd made her message clear – he was not wanted among their midst; she didn't want him.

It had hurt. But he'd learned to live with it. To accept that the woman he'd given up everything he'd ever known for, didn't care. He'd learned that no matter what, they – she – would never see beyond what he'd been.

It was a lesson he'd learned well.

One he wouldn't forget.

Fate, in the shape of a demon no less, had shoved him back into their lives and he was no happier about it than they were.

No matter what, though, he wouldn't forget; they'd betrayed him, she'd deserted him, abandoned him when he'd needed her most, but what hurt the worst was simply – that she'd given up on them. She'd turned her back on their love, and hadn't heeded his pleas for another chance. She'd cut him from her heart without a backwards glance.

No thank you would change that. He wouldn't forgive that. And in his eyes, in his silence, she read the message.

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