Instead they lay in their bed in the Source's private chamber. Phoebe had immediately had it redecorated, disdaining the simple but crude décor the old Source had preferred. While he tended toward the finer things in life as well, Cole hadn't bothered with any renovations here when he was the Source, since he spent most of his time at the penthouse. Phoebe, however, had chosen to remain in the Underground, far from her sisters' eyes. She'd gone through catalogs and circled lavish furnishings and plush bedding. The demons she'd ordered to fetch these items balked at first until Cole had coldly told them, "You will do as your Queen commands."
It amused Phoebe to maintain the façade that Cole was still the Source. He could shimmer again now, of course, since she had returned his demonic powers to him, but they always entered a room together so that no one could tell that it was she who conjured the flames in which they appeared, not him. Many of the faction leaders remained wary of Phoebe, unconvinced she would not turn on them, and remembering the many of their kind she and her sisters had killed over the years. And if they knew the Source was in the baby Phoebe carried instead of in Cole, it would only be a matter of time before war broke out to kill Cole and claim Phoebe, as competing factions sought to control the Source in infant form. Only the Seer knew the truth -- it was impossible to hide from her -- and if she questioned the Source's wisdom, she kept it to herself.
Three months had passed since they'd left the manor together. Cole wondered what Piper and Paige thought of his "defection." Did they realize he'd done it to protect Phoebe from the Source? Or did they think -- again -- that evil had claimed him?
He stroked Phoebe's hair softly as she slept, nestled in his arms, then drew his hand along her body, bringing it to rest on the gentle swell of her belly. She was showing now. Cole was torn between paternal pride and joy and fear over the baby's fate. Was his son lost to him already? If it came down to it, could he kill the baby to stop the Source? "You and Phoebe Halliwell will produce the most powerful child the magical world has ever seen," the Seer had told him. But he wasn't destined for evil, since the Seer had feared that a "white wedding" would sway the baby's power to the side of good. That meant there had to be hope to save him.
"You can hear me, can't you, Phoebe?" he whispered in her ear. "I won't give up. I'll find a way to save you. Both of you. I promise."
Then he felt a familiar tug of magic, one he hadn't felt in quite some time. Unprepared to resist it, he was ripped from the bed, unwillingly answering the call of the spell.
Paige flipped through the pages of the Book of Shadows. She'd gone through the book dozens of times since Phoebe had become the Source, but nothing they had tried worked. If she heard the spells to call a lost witch or sister, she ignored them.
To say the past few months had been difficult would be an understatement, but while more than a handful of demons had tried to take out the crippled Charmed Ones, the awful final attack they'd expected had not come. They'd seen neither Phoebe nor Cole since they had left the manor, and demonic activity overall had been light. They had interrogated some of the demons that had attacked, and the only information they had gleaned was that the Source was waiting for his heir to be born before destroying the Charmed Ones utterly.
"'His?'" Paige had said to Piper. "Cole's the Source again? Gee, this is my surprised face."
To her astonishment, Piper had shot her a displeased look. "Don't assume, Paige," she said wearily. "We don't know if the demon was lying or just out of touch with the new regime, or maybe Cole just didn't have a choice."
"Yeah, but this is Cole we're talking about," Paige said.
"Exactly!" Piper snapped. "And maybe, just maybe, we should cut him some slack. Why is it we're so quick to think he's evil?"
"Because he's a demon?" Paige said warily, confused by her sister's anger.
"Was a demon," Piper said. "Half-demon. Half-human. How many times has he saved our lives, Paige? And even when he was the Source -- didn't he save you from the vampires? He could've killed you then, but something in him stopped him."
Paige started to feel defensive. "Yeah, but..."
Piper sighed, relaxing a little. "You were right when you noticed Cole acting weird. I wish I'd listened to you sooner. But we came at it the wrong way. We were stupid to think Cole was evil because he wanted to be. Maybe if we'd tried to help him, then he'd be here and so would Phoebe."
Paige sat down next to her sister and put her arms around her. "Don't beat yourself up over it, Piper. We'll figure something out. We always do."
"All three of them are depending on us, Paige," Piper said, leaning her head on Paige's shoulder, trying not to let the despair overwhelm her. "It's not just Phoebe we're trying to save. It's Cole and their baby, too."
And so over the next few weeks Paige had worked to change her attitude toward Cole. She'd never been able to wrap her mind around the whole demon-being-good thing, but Piper was right. The first time -- well, second, after Prue's funeral -- she'd seen Cole, he'd been saving her from Shax. He saved Piper when the Source was in her head, trying to make her give up the Power of Three. He'd destroyed the vampire queen, stopping her from taking Paige away and condemning her to be a vampire forever.
She'd always tried to give people the benefit of the doubt, so why not Cole? She confided her troubles to Leo, who suggested maybe it was because she subconsciously saw Cole as a threat because, unlike Leo himself, who was married to Piper and a full member of the family when Paige joined them, Cole was an outsider, and represented a force drawing Phoebe away. Being adopted and then orphaned made Paige fiercely protective of her new family, and her animosity toward Cole was born of fear he might disrupt her new home she had found with the Halliwells. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized she and Cole had that protectiveness in common. He was never overly-demonstrative of his affections toward anyone other than Phoebe, but he would die to keep her sisters safe. Paige vowed that when this was over, she would treat Cole like a member of the family and let go of her fear and mistrust, and her newfound resolve made her all the more determined to save Cole.
They were focusing on Cole today, trying to find him where their attempts to locate Phoebe had failed. Piper was scrying while Paige turned to the Book of Shadows for ideas. "What about this summoning spell for Belthazor?" Paige asked. "That was Cole's demon form, right?"
Piper shook her head. "It doesn't work anymore. He's not a demon, he's human. Unless he's the Source. Then it still won't work. Belthazor doesn't exist anymore either way."
"Well, what if we modified it?" Paige wondered. She recited the spell to herself. "'Magic forces black and white, reaching out through space and light, be he far or be he near, bring us the demon Belthazor here.' Maybe if we reword it we can -- Piper, incoming!"
Piper looked up as vortex of wind began to form next to her. She took a few steps back, bracing herself for an attack, then saw what the spell had summoned. Cole. "It worked?" Piper said in surprise. "And...naked!" She blushed and quickly turned around, then realized the potential danger and spun back around, her hands ready to unleash their power. Keeping her eyes just on Cole's face, she said, "Are you good or evil?"
"What I am," he said testily, "is cold." He snatched a pillow from the nearby sofa and tried to cover himself.
Paige tilted her head and peered at Cole. "Dude, I think you need a bigger pillow."
Cole flushed and glared at her. "I'm not here to hurt you, but I may change my mind after this," he said irritably.
Piper kept her wary stance. "Paige, will you please do something about the naked man you just conjured?"
"I am," she said with a wicked grin, brandishing a pen. "I'm updating the entry in the Book of Shadows. Phoebe left out a few details."
Piper rolled her eyes at her youngest sister. "Use the object of objection spell or something!"
Paige peeked at Cole again. "I don't think it will work because I can't object to that."
"Paige!" Piper yelped. "Don't make me blow you up!"
"Oh, all right," Paige said with a dramatic sigh. She orbed to Phoebe's bedroom, returning moments later with some of Cole's clothing. She tossed them to Cole, still leering at him as he turned his back to pull on the pants and shirt.
When he'd dressed, he turned to face the sisters. "What the hell are you two doing?" he said.
"Apparently finding out you're a demon again," Piper said. "Care to explain how that happened?"
"How do you think?" Cole said, somewhat bitterly. "Phoe -- The Source decided I was somewhat lacking and decided to restore my demonic half."
"The Source is still in her and not in you?" Piper asked. "Because all the demons we've run into keep calling the Source 'he.'"
Cole nodded. "She's pretending I'm still the Source because if word gets out the Source is contained in the body of an infant, it could cause chaos."
"So why not go back to you instead?" Paige said.
"I offered," Cole said. Piper raised an eyebrow, and he met her gaze without shame. "I would do it to spare her and our child. But she feels safer from you in Phoebe's body, for now at least."
"Why'd you go with her?" Paige said.
He sat down tiredly on the sofa. "I couldn't just abandon her...let her go down there alone. I have to protect her -- protect them. She needs me. The Source needs me...but so does Phoebe. My love for her let me affect the Source's actions when it was in me. The same will be true for her. If I'm with her I give her strength." While that was true, he didn't want to admit the other reasons as well -- that the Source was well aware his greatest weakness was the lengths he would go to preserve Phoebe's well-being, and how she had threatened to abuse Phoebe's body if he didn't obey her. His protective nature -- and jealousy -- were being used as weapons against him.
Piper sat down next to him. "How...how are you doing?" she asked softly.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold out," he said. "You don't know what it's like down there...surrounded by evil. It's like...it's like being a thirsty man surrounded by poisoned water."
She took his hand in hers. "You're strong, Cole. You can do it. I know you can."
He looked at her hopefully. "Have you found a way to help her -- to get the Source out without killing her?"
"Not yet," she said sadly. "Leo's been up with the Elders trying to figure it out, but they're as useless as ever. They're absolutely frantic. Nothing like this has ever happened before."
"Do me a favor," Cole said, looking from Piper to Paige. "When this is done...write a spell...to make her forget."
Paige cocked her head. "Why?"
"Because the Source had the Seer slaughter a child so she could make a salve out of its blood to prevent stretch marks," Cole said. "Do you think she'll want to remember something like that? Any of it? There's a lot of blood on her hands right now, and it's not her fault. She shouldn't have to live with the memory of it."
"What about you?" Piper said.
He shrugged slightly. "I've learned to live with what I've done. I can handle it."
"No, I mean...is there blood on your hands now?" Piper said.
He was a little surprised she didn't automatically assume as much. "Not yet. I think she knows if I kill an innocent that I'll have crossed a line and you won't hesitate to vanquish me. She's not willing to take that risk, not when it means the power of the Source will be trapped in an infant. She needs me as a safeguard until the child is old enough."
"Will you?" Piper persisted.
"Piper, please don't ask me that," he said. "You know I'll do whatever I have to to save Phoebe. Whatever I have to."
"Maybe you shouldn't go back down there," Paige brought up.
"I have to," he said simply. "And right now I'm the best connection you have to Phoebe."
"Look, I'm trying to get on the 'Let's Trust Cole' Train," Paige said, "but you're crazy. You don't want to be evil, but every second you're down there you're risking losing it..."
"Like an alcoholic spending time in a bar?" Cole interrupted.
Paige scowled. "Not fair. That's different. I know my demon and it's totally under control."
"And I have mine under control," Cole said. "But you're right, it is a risk. So just in case..." He stood up and looked around the attic. Spotting an athame, he picked it up and sliced his hand open.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Piper said.
Cole found a bottle and let his blood drip into it. "Make a vanquish potion. Use it if you have to. It won't work if the Source is in me, but if it's just me..."
"Cole, we're not going to vanquish you," Piper protested.
He pressed the bottle into her hand. "Just in case." He held her gaze with his own. "I trust you to use it only if you have to." She nodded and took the bottle as he found a cloth to press to his hand to stop the bleeding.
"I'd better go," he said a few moments later. "Before she realizes I'm gone. I'll try to get word to you somehow if I find anything out that may help you."
Piper gave him a quick hug. "Be careful," she said.
Cole nodded and shimmered from the attic, willing himself back the Source's chamber. If luck was with him, Phoebe would still be asleep and would not have noticed his absence. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dim candlelight, and as they did, he heard a soft moan. He looked to the bed and saw Phoebe sitting up in it. No, not just Phoebe, she wasn't alone. Dane, his ambitious lieutenant, was in bed with Phoebe, touching her, kissing her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Cole shouted.
Phoebe didn't even flinch. "There you are, baby," she said, looking over Dane's shoulder. "I woke up and you weren't here. I was lonely, and Dane here was kind enough to offer to make sure his Queen's needs were all...satisfied."
Anger surged within him, and an energy ball appeared in his hand almost unbidden. "Get away from her," he said to Dane in a deadly voice. "Now."
Dane looked at him scornfully. "To think all this time I was kneeling to you. Now I know where the true power is. You were never worthy of being the Source. And you're not worthy of her now."
"I said take your hands off her," Cole ordered. Dane's response was to turn his back on Cole and kiss Phoebe again. She squealed in delight, encouraging his attentions. Cole threw the energy ball, striking Dane in the back. Roaring in pain and surprise -- he must've thought the Source would protect him from Cole's attack -- Dane leapt from the bed, throwing an energy ball of his own at Cole. Cole dodged the brunt of the blast, but it grazed his arm. He threw another energy ball, this time striking Dane solidly in the chest. He flew backwards and slammed into a wall, sinking to the ground, stunned.
He could feel Phoebe's eager eyes on him as he stalked towards Dane's prone form. He stopped to yank a sword from the wall -- one of the few items Phoebe had retained from her former incarnation's decorations. Dane struggled feebly to rise, but Cole coldly kicked him to the ground, then raised the sword and drove it into his chest. Dane screamed in pain as he erupted into flames.
Phoebe stretched out on the bed, waiting for him. "To the victor go the spoils," she said, wriggling seductively, licking her lips in anticipation.
He prowled to the bed, unable to stop himself. Killing Dane and jealousy had roused the demon in him, which undoubtedly was exactly what Phoebe had planned. She gasped as he grabbed her, jerking her upward for a hard and demanding kiss. He hungered for her, and that hunger had to be sated. It wasn't lovemaking he wanted, it was a claiming, but as much as he was claiming her, she was claiming the demon part of him. She had called him the victor, but right now, she was winning.
"Have I ever told you I like it rough, baby?" she said breathlessly when they'd finished. "You were always too gentle with me."
Her words brought him back to himself; he tensed and rolled off her. She moved with him, straddling his waist as he lay on his back. She circled her hand around his throat, digging her nails into his flesh as she squeezed. Her small hand belied the strength it contained. She crushed his windpipe; he couldn't breathe. "I smell the witches on you, baby," she hissed. "If you go near them again unless under explicit instructions from me, I will make you regret it. Am I understood?"
He couldn't speak, but he nodded. She released him. Gasping for breath, he said, "They summoned me. I didn't go willingly."
"Oh, that's right, that spell will work again, won't it?" she sighed. "And so will the vanquish. Well, we can't have that. I'll send for a blood alchemist." She paused, then asked. "How are they?"
"They're worried about their sister," Cole said, searching Phoebe's face.
She closed her eyes, lowering her head. "I miss them," she said softly.
He lifted his hand to cup her cheek. "They miss you, Phoebe."
Tears slipped from her eyes, falling on his chest. "I want them here. With us." She opened her eyes. "Bring them to me."
"Phoebe, you don't want me to do that," he began.
Her moment of vulnerability passed, and her eyes turned black with anger. "Yes, I do. The Charmed Ones serving evil? Our power will be unmatched. It can be done so easily now. I have a tie to the Book of Shadows, and if I corrupt it, it will corrupt them. It's been done before." She looked down at Cole and caressed his cheek. "All I need is the Book. And you're going to get it for me, aren't you, baby?"
