Chapter 3: New Assistant

"Phoebe," Elise said as Phoebe walked into the Bay Mirror. "Thank God you're here."

"Why?" Phoebe asked.

"I needed to tell you something." Phoebe looked at her nervously. "You have a new assistant."

"An assistant?" Phoebe asked. "I don't need an assistant, Elise."

"I didn't want you to feel so overran again, so I hired you one." Phoebe saw someone in her office through the window. "And don't worry, he's good looking." Phoebe laughed and shuddered at the thought of her boss at the same time.

"Well, alright then," she said, walking towards her office. She opened her door. "Hello," she started.

"Hi," Cole answered.

"No," she said. She opened her door again and walked out to Elise. "I can't work with him."

"Why not?" Elise asked. "He seems like a sweetie."

"He's not a sweetie," Phoebe said.

"How can you know that already? You just met him."

"He's an ex of mine," Phoebe said.

"Well, I'm sorry, Phoebe, but I can't just fire him right away. Give me a solid reason. There's already a lack of jobs, and I don't want to be the one that has to add to them." Phoebe walked back to her office.

"Fine, Cole," she said. "If you're working for me, you'll shut up and not say a single word to me."

"Okay," Cole said.

"You see, that was a word. You just spoke one." Cole was about to say 'sorry', but decided against it. "Now, go get me some coffee. And be quick or I might just get you fired." Cole gave her a smile that made her cringe in disgust. He walked away to fetch her coffee.

"Hold back on the sage," Piper said to Darlene. She was getting her brownies out of the oven. Paige looked down at the kettle.

"Um, yeah she's right," she said.

"Sorry," Darlene said.

"It's okay," Piper said. "You should have seen Paige when I was teaching her to make potions." Darlene looked up and smiled.

"Paige needed to be taught?" Paige looked embarrassed.

"Yep," Piper said. "And she had the tendency to not study. Luckily she straightened up her act and became the great witch she is today."

"Why thank you, Piper," Paige said.

"Alright, I think the potion is done," Darlene said, looking down at the Book. She put some into a vial and put a cork on it. "I'll go scry for him."

"If you need me," Paige said, "you know how to get a hold of me." Darlene thanked them and walked out to her car. "I'll go take this back upstairs." Paige grabbed the Book of Shadows and walked up to the attic.

"Piper!" Leo yelled. She then heard a crash. She took off her vomits and went to the living room. She saw Leo on the ground with an energy ball wound. She tried to blow the demon up, but it was thrown back and hit a coffee table.

"Andy!" Piper yelled. Andy orbed in. The demon saw that they had a whitelighter and smoked-out. Andy walked over to Leo and healed him.

"Thank you," Leo said, getting off the floor.

"Anytime," Andy said. "Is that all you needed?"

"No," Piper said. "I want you to talk to the Elders about this. There seems to be an odd, increasing amount of demons that can't be blown up appearing. I think there's another demon behind it."

"I'll talk to them," Andy said, orbing out.

"Here's your coffee, boss," Cole said.

"See, you're doing that talking thing I told you not to do again," Phoebe said snobbishly.

"How do you expect me to work for you if I can't talk?" Cole asked.

"Keep your mouth shut and do what I say," Phoebe suggested.

"Can we just make the most of this?"

"You're acting like you don't want this," Phoebe said. "I know very well that you did this on purpose."

"Did what on purpose?" Cole asked.

"Apply to be my assistant. You only did it so you could get closer to me."

"You're right," Cole said. "But not just because I want to be with you. I was assigned to do this."

"By who?" Phoebe asked.

"The Avatars."

"Why would they want you here, working with me?"

"To make sure I protect you. They don't want anything to happen to the Charmed Ones because they still need you."

"They know they'll never get our help again."

"You never know what may force you to change your mind," Cole said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that at anytime, the same thing that happened to Prue could happen to one of you or someone you really love. Then I'm sure you'll be open to a world without demons."

"Don't be counting on it," Phoebe said. "Now run these to Elise for me." She handed him a stack of papers. He left the office to do what she requested. Then her cell phone went off. "Yeah?"

"Phoebe," Piper said. "You need to get home now."

"Why?" Phoebe asked.

"We need to stick together. You're in danger when you're alone. We all are."

"I'll be right there," she said. Cole came back in and saw her packing up her stuff.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I need to get home," Phoebe said.

"Why?" Cole asked.

"Not that it's any of your business," Phoebe said. "But there have been a lot of demons after us lately and I need to be home so I'm protected if one attacks me."

"Didn't I tell you," Cole said. "I'm here to protect you."

"Like I'm going to rely on you to protect me," she said laughing.

"Phoebe," he said, grabbing her shoulders. "I'll protect you." She looked into his eyes. They were the same eyes she fell in love with. She put her bag down.

"Okay, Cole," she said. "I'll trust you."

"Just as I suspected," Rindo said. "They have themselves a new whitelighter."

"What's the problem with that?" a demon asked. Rindo had gathered himself a small bunch of minion demons.

"They'll be harder to injure or kill," Rindo said. "They'll have a whitelighter constantly healing them."

"What if we attack the whitelighter?" another minion demon asked. Rindo thought about that for a moment.

"Hmm, interesting thinking," he said. "Get me a darklighter. We'll take out the whitelighter, and then we'll take out the Charmed Ones."