Disclaimer: Of course I still don't own the Charmed characters. I don't own the title either - it comes from Sting (I seem to be fascinated with his song-titles lately...)

Author's note: This story is the sequel of my first story 'In the darkness'. You should read that one first because this won't make any sense if you don't.

This first chapter is just a prologue. Tell me how you like it and if it's worth to continue (I probably will anyway as I already plottedthe storyout almost to the end and if it comes out the way I imagine it will be the longest fic I've ever written).

On to the story! Please read and review! Thanks...

Fragile

Prologue

Phoebe jerked awake and sat up in the bed with a startled movement. The pictures from her dream were still vivid in her mind and she was trembling slightly. Then her eyes fell upon the man who was sleeping next to her. His face was buried in the pillow so only his blond hair could be seen.

Phoebe suddenly felt the need to leave: she stood up, picked up her clothes and dressed carefully, she didn't want to wake her lover. Then she practically ran from the flat down to her car. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to drive in her state of mind, but she didn't feel up to walk the few miles to the Manor.

By the time she arrived home the sun was coming up and her face was soaked with tears. She burst into the house and went straight into the kitchen, where she wanted to stay alone. Her wish wasn't granted though: Piper was there, holding Wyatt with one arm on her hip and cooling the milk for his baby with the other hand. Phoebe wasn't ready to face her elder sister now, but she wasn't given a choice because Piper already turned.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly.

Phoebe gulped back her tears and shrugged.

"Nothing."

Piper raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"I slept with Jason" Phoebe said after a short silence flatly and dropped down on a chair.

"Isn't this good?" Piper asked hesitantly. "I thought you really liked him… or was he rude in any way?" she asked more worriedly now."

"No, no! He was very nice… it's just that… you know… I slept with him and then I dreamt of Cole…" she watched her hands instead of her sister.

"Oh… dear!" Piper said softly. "I though you didn't have those dreams anymore!"

"I don't have them… that often" she admitted, then buried her face in her hands and started to sob heavily.

Piper put Wyatt in his high-chair and sat down next to her sister, putting her arm around Phoebe's shoulder.

"Shh…" she hushed her. "It's okay… you did nothing wrong…"

"I still feel as if I were cheating on him… I know he's dead, but still…"

It took a lot of time for Phoebe to acknowledge that her true love was gone, especially as they never found his body. But Piper thought that in the last weeks – after a good year of grieving – Phoebe started to ease up again. Especially since she started to date Jason.

"He would want you to live on, Pheebs. He loved you so much… He wouldn't want you to suffer so much… especially not because of him" Piper knew that this was true but she also knew that if she lost Leo, such words could do nothing to calm her.

"But why Piper? Why did this happen…? After everything we went through…"

She cried even harder now. Piper wished she could tell something… anything to help her little sister but she couldn't. She didn't know the answers either… The only thing she could do was holding Phoebe tight until she cried herself out and she could reminiscence about the past year that was hard not just for Phoebe but for all of them.

After the Source was vanquished for good everything went back to normal. Or as normal as their life ever could be. The Underworld was quite in a chaos for a while and they were attacked rarely in those first months.

Cole was struggling for a while with his new powers which weren't very different from the old ones but still he had to learn again how to control them. But after awhile he managed it and for the first time in his life he was in peace with himself. However, they didn't know what he was – half-demon, human with magical powers, or something else entirely – but they didn't care, either. They accepted him as he was and Piper started to see him as a close friend and after a while almost like a brother.

In one word they were happy. The happiness only grew when Piper became pregnant.

Meanwhile things changed though in the Underworld. The Seer – who seemingly decided to take over the whole Hell – managed to bring a coalition of the three most powerful demons under roof. They called themselves the New Triad and – however the didn't know about it – they stood strongly under the influence of the Seer.

With this new leadership the attacks became more regular and the Seer was a very dangerous opponent. But the Charmed Ones were stronger than ever – due to her pregnancy Piper was practically invincible and they had Cole's help as well. Not meaning only his powers but also his wide knowledge of the Underworld.

So things went quite well… they should have known that it wouldn't last. And on the day of Wyatt's birth everything went downhill…

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