A/n: Hello again! Okay, so I know I should've updated yesterday, but it completely escaped my mind! I'm sorry! I will try to update on a regular basis. My computer is going all wacky though, so next weekend my dad might have to reload th OS. We usally take a long time with that! I hope to update asap next weekend.

Carmen: I'm glad you like!
TrueLoveLivesForever: Thank-you. "Ben" wasn't really that important besidesthe premonition that Phoebe got. That's important and will be explained this chapter. As for Coleand Leo working together...well you'll just have to wait and see. lol. :)
Charmed-Snow: Yes, Cole glamoured/shapeshifted into someone else. He couldn't exactly go invisible. Although that could invovle some fun comic relif. Invisible Cole sits on a bar stool and suddenly some guy sits on him. lol. Like I said before, you'll find out the premonition now.
Thanks to everybody else who read!

love,
bunn

Decoding, Books, and Reports

Chap 3

Piper stared at the coffee pot watching the intoxicating liquid slowly drip. The smell of the caffeinated beverage hit Phoebe as she walked in. "Coffee…" she mumbled.

Unusually alert Paige sat at the table reading the newspaper. "Ready to tell us what your premonition was about?"

Phoebe answered as she took a seat next to Paige, "It was really strange. It was definitely set in the future. Chris and Wyatt were kicking a ball around with Leo out in the front yard. They must've been somewhere around 9 and 10 years old."

"When does it get strange?" Piper asked sarcastically from her spot in front of the coffee pot.

"Oh…I don't know when Prue pulls into the driveway with groceries and asks for help putting them inside," Phoebe answered smugly. "Ooo! And then, I saw my daughter!"

"So this guy is your baby daddy from another reality. Congrats, Pheebs," Piper retorted.

"You need caffeine to be pleasant don't you?"

Paige sat messages her temples. Slowly she took deep breaths and counted backward from ten, "...3…2…1." Finally Paige calmed down enough to open her mouth, bur when she finally allowed herself to speak, all her hard work went to waste. "Phoebe! You said you had learned your lesson the first time! That's personal gain!"

"No, Paige, it wasn't like that at all."

"What was it like?" Paige challenged.

Triumphantly Piper declared, "I'm not the only one who needs caffeine to be pleasant!"

"You were pregnant and locked away at magic school for months and she was powerless. I worked as three witches! I am only one person! And I'm sorry but I'm not exactly willing to do that over again." Her shoulders tensed, and her neck began to ache.

"Hello? Are you listening to me? For the last time, it wasn't like personal gain. I learned my lesson. I didn't force the premonition. It just came. Well, actually it hit me like a ton bricks. I didn't ask for that."

"You also didn't ask for your powers to be taken away and yet they were."

"Now, now, girls, stop your bickering," amused Piper mothered them mockingly.

Phoebe ignored her. "Besides that guy was not my baby daddy unless he was Cole."

"Cole?"

"What does he have anything to with this? We vanquished him."

"Why do you insist on staying here? Sooner or later, you must join us completely,' Alpha said. He was becoming fed up with Cole's lack of compliance. The reason they had targeted the Charmed Ones' loves was mainly because power attracted more power. Those two made up most of the collective. The only problem was that Cole and Leo weren't as easily contorted as they had hoped. For the Avatars to be able to brainwash the whole planet into following them, they had to be up to complete power. Leo was more willing to follow them than Cole was. Leo would do anything for his sons, but Cole didn't have any motivation.

Beta read Alpha's mind. In a controlled voice she telepathically said, "Patience it a virtue."

"Not right now it isn't," he replied tightly.

"He'll come about eventually."

Cole shrugged. He didn't really want to be alive. They brought him back, and now they will have to suffer the consequences. There was no way that he'd 'join them completely.' He began to reach for his remote.

"He wears a façade," Beta observed aloud for Cole's purpose. "He likes to be near her."

"I like my privacy," Cole snapped. He knew what she said was true. Being so far away from her after being so close truly felt worse than hell. "Remember, you're the ones who sent me to P3," he answered grumbling. He remembered an old prophet that the Source had made him kill. A strong prophet like that one was dangerous toward the Source when partnered with good. He told Cole that he wouldn't kill him simply because, "Wanting something you can't have is the worse kind of hell."

Alpha knew better than to push the issue further. "What did you find?"

"Agent Brody/Kyle/Whoever appeared to be a functional member of society which is more than I can say about a lot of her ex-boyfriends." Cole received a reproachful glare. "Look, he seemed nice, and Paige seemed happy. That's all I got. Maybe if he wasn't surrounded by a roomful of mortals, I'd be able to tell you something useful." A small pause in the conversation was all it took for Cole to know his next assignment. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'll get on it as soon as you leave."

"Again, I'm so sorry that I'm late again," Paige said for the millionth time since she had orbed Kyle to Magic School.

"That's ok. Actually, I think I'd worry more if you were on time." He smiled.

His smile made her melt and wish to orb him somewhere private. She strained to keep sight of their goal. They had to get information on the Avatars. "All right, here we are. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Avatars and then some are spread out on these two tables." The tables were so covered with books that they were stacked sky high. Only a small portion of the desks was cleared off so that they could sit.

"Wow. I knew that this library was big, but I've never realized just how big it was. I mean there are a lot of books here, Paige."

"Oh it's nothing compared to al we had out last year when we were trying to send my nephew back to the future and save the other one from an unknown evil. Trust me."

"I don't want to know," Kyle replied. It was becoming his motto when it came to the supernatural. The only exception to the rule was the Avatars. He needed to know everything about them.

"Well, the point is, is that I've gotten good at researching. That's why I'm here to help," she smiled seductively.

"Good to know," he answered. He stopped paying attention the moment he touched the first book. He stood there simply staring at it in fascination. After searching for so long, his questions were going to be answered. He would avenge his parents.

Paige sighed. "Anyways I'm sorry we had to bail on you last night."

"Yeah, how is Phoebe?" Kyle asked duly.

"Oh, she's just fine. I mean all she did was have a premonition with her dead demonic ex-husband and our, also, dead older sister in it, off some random guy at the club," she answered sourly. Kyle glanced up with a questioning look in his eyes. He had a feeling that "I don't want to know," would be a bad answer to her statement.

Paige took his questioning look as a sign to finally vent. She took a deep breath, "In the future of some different reality she saw Cole, her ex, teaching their daughter how to read on some kind of Leapster thing. While our sister Prue, who appeared very much alive, had the boys, Piper's sons, help her bring in groceries."

"So what does that mean?" Kyle asked humoring her. If it bothered her he'd listen, but as far as he was concerned, he couldn't care less. Alternate realities weren't real and therefore didn't matter. The Avatars mattered. He wanted to concentrate on that.

The invisible Avatar, however, was very interested in the premonition. What did it mean? It was definitely a different reality, but it certainly wasn't a reality that he had created, Cole thought bitterly. Phoebe wouldn't have gone near him if he hadn't glamoured into someone else. He didn't have a snowballs chance in hell of being able to marry her, let alone have kids with her.

Paige sighed. "I don't know what the premonition means. I don't even know if it means anything at all."