After a hiatus that is much longer thanI realized, I'm trying to write again. I hope we're all able to get back into this. I want to develop the characters (future kids) more... so I'm going to try to work that in. Give you a little backstory on how they got to where they are and what prompted them going back to the past to begin with. Let me know what you think! -Abs

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"Hello, Mr. Simmons. Paige Matthews, here. Do you remember having me in your Poli-Sci class, like, ages ago? Right, intro to law concepts. We'll you made a huge impression on me, and I saw that you are still practicing law. It just so happens that I have a little law problem that I would appreciate your advice on. No, sir, I have not been arrested…again…" Paige paced the conservatory.

Phoebe laughed. She had not told her sisters about her trying to contact Cole. It had been five days since she contacted him and she had yet to hear anything. She had found that her heart was beginning to harden with the distance. When Cole had first left, it was like losing him all over again—and she had no idea why. Cole had been vanquished on his 100th birthday, after what Paige had described, as a massive break-down and ridiculous attempt at changing the world to win Phoebe back—changing the world to one in which Paige did not exist and evil had taken over the manor. But what Phoebe remembered most was the loathing. The absolute disgust and nausea that accompanied seeing her ex-husband. "You mummified me for God's sake, Cole. Do you really think I am going to get over that? You're sick," she belittled him. "I'm mad," was Cole's response before he shimmered off. He was mad. "Mad as the Mad Hatter," she grumbled under her breath as she joined Paige in the conservatory.

"Mr. Simmons thinks I need the help for myself. He thinks that I am in trouble again," she was aggravated. Phoebe giggled. "It's not funny," Paige tossed a pillow from the loveseat at Phoebe's head.

"Well, did he offer to help anyway," Phoebe took the phone from Paige who was flinging it around, "Let me have this before you break something. We've lost enough phones and furniture to demon attacks. They don't need your help."

"He said he would be willing to if I gave him more details… and money. I don't even have a little money to give him," Paige sighed.

Phoebe contemplated whether or not to tell Paige about her spell when suddenly the choice was made for her.

"I have news," Cole appeared in between Phoebe and Paige in a blur of orange light.

"What the?" Paige stumbled backwards in shock.

"Sorry 'bout that Paige," Cole chuckled as he approached his love with a longing look. "Phoebe, I got your message. And I have news."

Piper walked into the kitchen with little Chris cradled in her arms, "Whoa!" she flung her wrist as a reflex. Cole brushed the little explosion off his right shoulder. "Sorry," she pulled Chris close to her, "still not used to seeing you back—and good."

"I was here for three weeks, Piper, and I thought we were all getting along," Cole took a step towards her.

Piper instinctively pulled Chris back, "Yes, and you've been gone for six months. It's given us some time to think," Wyatt orbed into the kitchen and immediately pushed his high chair across the floor, "Wyatt, wait for mommy," Piper handed Chris to Paige before helping her oldest get his breakfast.

"Us?" Cole turned to look directly into Phoebe's eyes. She wouldn't look at him. Cole cleared his throat, "I see. Well, I didn't come here to debate the past, but to help insure the future. I've been doing some research on Leo's case. And I'd like to help." Phoebe still couldn't lift her eyes to meet Cole's.

With a flip of his wrist, Cole produced a manila folder with "Leo Wyatt" written hastily across the tab. He walked over to the kitchen table, laid the folder down, and waved his hand over the tabletop. Piles of books appeared in a flash. "This is what I have been working on for the past few days. I haven't gotten much sleep, so excuse me if I ramble or don't make any sense. Firstly, this is completely unprecedented. There have been cases when magical beings have been stripped of their powers, memories, been recycled…but never erased entirely. And none of which was done by the elders to an elder regarding the death of another elder."

"You weren't kidding about the unprecedented then, were you?" Paige sat at the table in front of a large book titled, Unusual Cases of Magical Law, 1801-1900.

"No," Cole took the folder from Piper, "but the most threatening one to Leo is not even the removal of his powers or his memories because we can recover a memory, and well, living without his powers…I think he can manage. Or you know, I'll give him some of mine," Cole laughed. No one else did, "I did mention I haven't slept much lately, right?"

"The threat, Cole?" Piper rapped her fingernails on the table.

"What?"

"Before you offered to give Leo some of your powers you were going to tell us what the most threatening scenario would be," Piper gritted her teeth.

"The biggest threat is that Leo is erased," Paige answered.

"Bingo," Cole pointed to her, "ten points for the red head."

Paige picked up her starkly brunette hair, "Not red for months, Cole."

He did a double take before chuckling to himself, "Right."

"Mad hatter," Paige mumbled under her breath to herself.

"Focus, people," Piper stood up as the fruit bowl in the middle of the table exploded causing Chris to cry. Wyatt picked up a piece of apple and stuck it in his mouth.

"I never wondered where Chris got that obstinate, 'kill demon 24/7' attitude from. Nope, not a minute," Phoebe shook her head.

Piper narrowed her eyes, "Paige or Cole, do either of you feel like explaining?"

Cole picked up where Paige left off, "Leo could be erased. He died in World War II…and stayed that way. He never became a whitelighter, he never saved the countless lives he has—including yours."

"So, why would the elders erase him? That would undo so many of the good things, the good-for-nothing-guys up there have actually accomplished," Piper interjected.

"There are different degrees of it. Depending upon the level of the crime. Erasing him from just a certain part of history, never accepting him as a whitelighter would be drastic. But we have to be prepared for the worst—cliché, but the best defense truly is a dynamite offense."

Piper couldn't speak. Thinking back over her life, she had always known Leo was there—even before he had met her. He had even confirmed knowing her before she was a witch, and he had loved her before he knew she existed. When she, Prue, and Phoebe traveled back in time to stop Phoebe's past evil self from resurrecting herself and her warlock lover, Leo had been there. Their souls were always together. Had always been destined to meet, fall in love, and have a family. But now? After all they had been through, could all be erased?

"There's my boys," Leo yawned coming into the kitchen, "Sorry honey," he kissed Piper on the cheek, "Long night." He glanced up and saw Cole and the stack of books, "Cole."

"He's here to help you, Leo," Phoebe explained, "I asked him to. He's a lawyer, he's an ex-demon, and he's magical."

"He's the best we've got," Paige sounded almost skeptical—like she had to convince herself as much as she had to convince the rest of her family.

"I'm the best, period," Cole smiled triumphantly.

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Phoebe kicked the punching bag repeatedly before pausing, sweat dripping from her brow. "I think I need a timeout," her voice floated through her memory, "Get up," Cole demanded, "Get up. No time outs. When you're fighting the source, you won't get any time outs. Demons value strength. You can't be weak, or you'll die." Phoebe blinked. "No weakness," she mumbled to herself. Taking a deep breath she began punching the bag, alternating with kicks. The bag swung away from her, but didn't swing back.

"Nice to see you still practice," Cole smiled around the edge of the bag before swinging it back towards her.

"A girl's gotta keep in shape somehow," Phoebe quipped catching the bag and gasping for a premonition.

It was a girl with brown hair and blue eyes practicing kicks on the bag with Cole holding it firmly in place, smiling at her. "Good job, princess," he gave her a pat on the back after she had finished. She smiled, "Thanks."

"What'd you see?" Cole handed Phoebe a towel.

Phoebe took a deep breath and wiped her brow. "A girl. A beautiful young girl," Phoebe walked around the basement, "in here, practicing martial arts," she looked to Cole who was leaning against the stair rail, "With you. You called her princess."

Cole nodded and sat down, patting the stair next to him indicating Phoebe to sit, "Kinda tall, brown hair, blue eyes. Conniving smile," Cole flashed Phoebe his signature half-smile with a wink.

"Just like that," Phoebe grinned, "How'd you know?"

"Dreams. I've been having a lot of dreams lately—all with her in them. Her name is Chloe. And I think she is our daughter."

"Our daughter," Phoebe let her voice wander. She remembered her premonition at Magic School, "I have a daughter."

"Yeah," Cole looked at his love, wishing she would return the look, "She seems like a pretty amazing kid. I can't wait to meet her."

"Me either," Phoebe looked back, but tore her gaze away before Cole read anything into it. She got up and started up the stairs, "so when did you start having prophetic dreams?" she asked indicating Cole follow her.

He rose and brushed off his slacks before making his way into the kitchen behind Phoebe, "I don't think they're prophetic. It's more like memories. Like it's already happened. Which is weird, because unless you've been hiding something from me, we don't have a daughter."

Phoebe gave a weak laugh, "I'm not hiding anything. A kid would be pretty hard to keep a secret." Then she remembered her own series of dreams—dreams from which she woke up in cold sweats, heart pounding in her ears. Dreams that didn't feel like premonitions, but memories yearning to escape. She decided to change the subject, "Before we can get to her future, we need to take care of Leo's future." She got up from the steps and went into the kitchen. Cole followed her. "Tell me more about what can happen. What can we expect?" She grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.

"I don't know," Cole answered candidly.

Phoebe started choking, "What? You were just telling us the possible scenarios before."

"Right, but I don't know what to expect. You asked me what we can expect."

Phoebe rolled her eyes at Cole while she took another sip and headed out of the room. "Come on," she waved at him to follow her.

"Right, ok then. I don't know what to expect. I've never been before an elder council. Demonic councils, trials here that felt like demonic councils… I assume it could be like any other trial. But that's not what we should be worried about—we need to be concerned about the judgment," Cole followed Phoebe to the stairs.

"Tell me more about that. Erasing him? There's no chance he can get away from this with a simple slap on the wrist is there?"

"I doubt that," Cole tentatively followed Phoebe to her bedroom before she waved him in. Phoebe went into her closet to change as Cole continued, "The best he could get would be having his memories erased and relocated, or his powers stripped. But erasing him—that could change everything."

Phoebe emerged from her closet with a robe on and towel over her arm, "Everything?"

"He never became a whitelighter—Piper would be dead, you would be dead, no Wyatt, no Chris. Countless innocents gone." Silence let the gravity of the situation sink in. "Or he could be recycled. No more Leo from here on out. And there's anything in between. Erased five years ago, ten years ago, thirty years ago."

"I get it," Phoebe took a deep breath, "Fill in Leo and Piper now that they have had some time to calm down. I'm going to take a shower," Phoebe left the room as Cole playfully followed, "Ah, no. You can't follow me anymore."

"Well, it was worth a try," the door shut in his face.

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Piper sat and watched as Chris sat up, on his own, and laughed gleefully at his brother who was simply stacking Legos©, "Chris, I hope you always find Wyatt that amazing," she smiled at her sons. Wyatt was oblivious to Chris's admiration and laughs. It was hard for Piper to imagine all the chaos that Big Chris had described in the future. One where Wyatt was no longer her precious, sweet boy, but a man. A man with unlimited power and thirst for more, such that he isolated and turned against his little brother. "Thank God, we thwarted that," she thought, only half-believing it. The ordeal with Gideon was still fresh on her mind. The man that Leo had idolized since becoming a whitelighter had become obsessed with the idea that her eldest son would be the destruction of the balance between good and evil. He therefore took it upon himself to fix it by trying to turn both Wyatt and Chris evil. All while she was in labor with Chris. It wasn't exactly the peaceful birthing experience she had prayed for, but then again, neither was Wyatt's. Maybe she wasn't meant to have a normal birthing experience. Maybe she wasn't meant to have a normal life. Since becoming a witch it had been Piper's single most passion to have a normal life, with a normal husband, and normal family. Yet all along the way it seemed she was destined for aberrations from her dreams. Not that she wasn't happy, she was happy! She couldn't help but smile at her beautiful sons even in the wake of Leo's impending trial. However, nothing could change her desire for normalcy.

Leo orbed into the room and sat at his wife's side. "Beautiful isn't it?" Leo watched his sons play. He ran his fingers through Piper's hair and she leaned back into his chest. "Cole was just reading some fairly convincing cases to me—all regarding self-defense. And we can't deny it was self-defense. There's witnesses."

"Right," she sighed, still admiring her boys.

"You're quiet. What are you thinking?"

"I don't want to lose you," she turned to look in his eyes, "but would it be so bad if they stripped your powers? Or you offered to let them strip your powers? Or retire? You could retire…never be a whitelighter again. And then we could be…"

"Normal," Leo finished her sentence.

They turned to their sons. Wyatt blinked and an army of Lego© men sprang to life and began to try to overtake his newly erected castle, "As normal as we can get around here," she finished with a smile.